Feb. 19, 2009

Box Score

Spartanburg, S.C. - Kevin Tiggs led all scorers with 32 points and nearly scored half of ETSU's points as the Buccaneers fought off a rally by Upstate to take a 66-61 victory Thursday night in A-Sun men's basketball action in the Hodge Center.

ETSU improved to 18-9 overall and 12-5 in the A-Sun with the win. The Bucs are just a half game out of first place in the A-Sun standings. Upstate fell to 7-19 overall and 6-11 in the league, having had its four-game home winning streak snapped. ETSU snapped its three-game league losing streak with the win.

ETSU fought hard to gain the lead in the first half, then watched as Upstate gave a mirror effort in the second half to fight into the lead late in the game. But, after Upstate took a 54-53 lead on De'Marion Gordon's steal and layup with 5:50 to play, ETSU quickly regained the lead and did not let Upstate back in front the rest of the way.

"We were trying, but we missed a free throw, missed a couple of shots at the rim and then we had a couple of turnovers," said Upstate head coach Eddie Payne. "We didn't do enough to win the game. We were right there on the edge and we didn't have anyone to give us a spark, make a play to get us over the hump."

Greg Hamlin gave ETSU a 55-54 lead with 4:29 to play in the game and Mike Smith's layup increased the Bucs' lead to three. Smith finished the game with 20 points as the only other ETSU player in double figures. His free throws with 2:06 to play in the game not only gave the Bucs a three-point advantage, it also pushed him over 1,000 career points, giving ETSU three players, along with Courtney Pigram and Kevin Tiggs, with 1,000 career points.

Upstate shot itself in the foot down the stretch, missing five shots and committing two turnovers in the final three minutes to thwart the comeback attempt. ETSU used Upstate's miscues to increase the lead to seven on Tigg's breakaway dunk with 51 seconds to play.

Upstate looked good early on. The Spartans used a 9-0 run to open a 14-5 lead with 11:25 to play in the first half. Bobby Davis led the attack with seven points during the run. The lead was seven with 8:57 remaining when ETSU began to chip away at the Upstate advantage. Tiggs started things off with a jumper and ensuing free throw after being fouled on the play to cut the lead to four.

After Nick Schneiders converted a pair of free throws, Tiggs hit a jumper and a three-pointer on back-to-back possessions to get ETSU within one, 18-17, with 6:50 to play before the half. Greg Hamlin's layup gave the Bucs a 19-18 lead.

Upstate failed to make a field goal from the 8:49 mark of the first half until Pat Posey nailed a jumper at the buzzer. Schneiders' free throws were the only points between field goals. With the Spartans on a cold spell, ETSU vaulted out to a 29-18 lead before settling for a 29-20 advantage at the break.

Tiggs finished with 23 points in the first half, outscoring Upstate 23-20 himself. Only two other Bucs scored in the half. Davis had 10 points to lead the Upstate attack.

Upstate made an early run in the second half to get back into the game. The Spartans used an 18-9 run to cut the ETSU lead from 31-21 to 40-39 with 13:03 to play in the game. The Spartans managed to cut the lead to one on two more occasions before Davis' jumper with 9:28 to play tied the game for the third time.

"We got some good looks off of two or three reversals," said Payne. "We have preached reversals all year long because when you reverse the ball you create a window to get the ball inside. Once you do that, it frees up the outside and you can get open shots. That's how we made a couple threes to get us back in the game."

Smith, though, made back-to-back baskets to push the lead to five points. Gabor Boros' three-pointer cut the ETSU lead to two with 7:47 to play and Schneiders made 1-of-2 free throws to get the Spartans within one with 6:52 remaining. Gordon then came away with his steal and layup with 5:50 to play to setup the final five minutes of the contest.

Davis led the way for Upstate. He finished with 16 points, eight rebounds and two assists. Scheiders added 11 points, while Boros finished with 10. Posey came off the bench with a solid nine points, four rebounds and two assists.