Saturday, October 29, 2005

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (Oct. 29, 2005) - Senior point guard Tim Smith (Newport News, Va.) picked up where he left off a year ago, scoring a game-high 38 points and collecting 10 rebounds to earn a double-double, leading the Blue team to a 96-79 win over the Gold in the annual Blue-Gold Scrimmage game Saturday afternoon inside Memorial Center.

A large crowd was on hand to help raise funds for The Children's Hospital at the Johnson City Medical Center, and they were treated to an impressive offensive outing as eight Buccaneers scored in double figures on the day.

Along with Smith, the Blue squad got 19 points from junior post Eryk Thomas (Freemont, Calif.), as well as 12 points from senior guard Ben Rhoda (Dayton, Ohio) and 10 points from freshman guard Shaun Keaton (Albany, Ga.). Meanwhile, junior guard Travis Strong (Memphis, Tenn.) scored a team-high 23 points and senior post Dillion Sneed (Chicago, Ill.) collected a double-double with 22 points and 14 rebounds for the Gold squad.

The bad news on the day was the loss of sophomore post Andrew Reed (Port Richey, Fla.) to a wrist injury early in the game. Attempting to a block a shot, Reed injured his left wrist and is expected to be out for as long as eight weeks.

"It's disappointing losing Andrew and I didn't see what I wanted from our team defensively," said ETSU head coach Murry Bartow. "On the positive side, we had a great crowd with a lot of energy. Dillion was very good offensively and I think Eryk was a bright spot. Tim was typical Tim, but we are going to have to be better defensively if we expect to win games."

The Blue squad led 46-38 at the intermission and went on to outscore the Gold 50-41 in the second half. Other players to reach double figures were freshman guards Courtney Pigram (Memphis, Tenn.) and Tayloe Taylor (Memphis, Tenn.) with 17 and 11 points, respectively. Smith led all players with eight assists.

The Bucs will next be in action on Nov. 10 when they host Mars Hill in a preseason exhibition game at Memorial Center. Game time is set for 7 p.m. Fans can purchase season tickets now by calling 423-439-3878.