Saturday, January 06, 2001

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (AP) (Jan. 6, 2001) -- Dimeco Childress had 16 points and Renaldo Johnson added 15 as East Tennessee State defeated The Citadel 85-69 Saturday afternoon.

It was an ugly game, with The Citadel (8-5, 1-1 Southern Conference) not scoring a two-point bucket until 17 minutes to go in the second half.

East Tennessee (6-7, 1-1) took the lead on the first points of the game and never gave it up. The Buccaneers led 26-11 at 8:52 in the first half after a 3-pointer by Childress.

The Buccaneers came out of the break strong, starting a 36-20 run that put them up 74-49 with 7:15 to go. The run was capped with a free throw by Isaac Potter.

Trash-talking ran throughout the game, with three players _ Travis Cantrell from The Citadel and Ryan Lawson and Zakee Wadood from East Tennessee _ receiving technicals for their creative vocabulary.

D.J. McDuffy rounded out double-digit scoring for the Buccaneers with 12 points. Cantrell led scoring for the Eagles with 21 points, and Gregg Jones had 10.