Junior guard Marcus Dubose (Hartsville, S.C.) hit a
decisive 3-pointer with 33 seconds left on the clock and the ETSU men’s
basketball team scored the final seven points of the game to drop Lipscomb
66-57 in Atlantic Sun Conference men’s basketball action Monday night inside
Allen Arena.
With the win, the Buccaneers improved to 14-13 overall,
8-8 in A-Sun play, and wrapped up a spot in the conference tournament later
this year in Macon, Ga. Meanwhile, Lipscomb dropped to 12-16, 7-9.
The Bucs were led offensively by a trio of players.
Senior forward Isiah Brown (Miami, Fla.) finished with a double-double thanks
to his 19-point, 11-rebound effort. Meanwhile, junior guard Sheldon Cooley
(Tampa) scored 17 points to go with four assists and three steals, and Dubose
finished with 16 points thanks to a 4-of-7 shooting night from 3-point range.
“That’s a big win for us, and we really had some guys
step up and make plays late,” said ETSU head coach Murry Bartow, whose team
never trailed in the game. “Isiah, Sheldon and Marcus came up with huge games
for us, but we also had guys come off the bench and give us valuable minutes.
This win wasn’t about coaching. It was all because of our guys making big plays
when we needed them.”
In the first half, ETSU opened the scoring with seven
straight points, but watched as Lipscomb battled back to tie the game at 11-11.
From there, ETSU used an 8-0 run to go up 19-11, and later used another 7-0
spurt to ultimately lead 26-17 at the break.
Brown led the way for ETSU in the early going with 11
points, while the Bucs’ defense forced 10 Lipscomb turnovers and picked up six
steals in the first 20 minutes.
The Bucs lost senior guard Tommy Hubbard (Boston) early
in the game, as he went up to steal a pass and collided with Lipscomb’s Deonte
Alexander. On the play, Hubbard lost his balance and fell hard, hitting his
head on the floor before landing on his back.
Hubbard was conscious following the play and went to the
training room for tests, but he missed the rest of the contest and will be
evaluated further in the coming days.
After the break, ETSU led by as many as 13 after scoring
the first four points of the half. However, Lipscomb battled back over the next
16 minutes to make it 56-54 with 2:58 left on the clock.
From there, Lipscomb stayed within two at 59-57, but at
that point, Dubose sank his fourth 3-pointer of the game as the shot clock
wound down to make it 62-57 with 33.3 seconds left in the contest.
The Bucs got two big defensive stops from there, while
free throws from Cooley and freshman forward John Walton (Memphis), as well as
a dunk later from Cooley closed out the game’s scoring.
Walton finished with three blocks, three rebounds, four
steals and two points in 21 minutes of action, making the most of his playing
time following Hubbard’s departure and after Lukas Poderis fouled out late in
the second half.
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