Thursday, January 10, 2008

            JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (Jan. 10, 2008) - Senior guard Travis Strong (Memphis) scored 13 of his 16 points in the final seven minutes, helping the ETSU men's basketball team rally from an 11-point deficit in the final 11 minutes to drop Atlantic Sun Conference foe Campbell 74-69 in front of 3,321 Thursday night inside Memorial Center.

            The game saw four ties and six lead changes before a Strong 3-pointer with just under a minute left gave the Bucs a 70-67 lead that they never relinquished. With the win, ETSU improves to 2-0 in A-Sun play, and moves to 8-7 overall on the year. Meanwhile, the Camels drop to 1-2 in league play and 5-9 overall.

            "Some games are tougher than others, but it's a good win," said ETSU head coach Murry Bartow, whose team improved to 6-0 inside Memorial Center this season. "I thought the guys really stepped up in the final 10 minutes, and are eighth, ninth and 10^th men really played well and stood out tonight. That's something as a staff we really talked about this morning and we wanted to play all 10 guys. We didn't shoot it great, but late we got some big defensive stops."

            ETSU, which did not lead in the game until the 6:24 mark of the second half when a pair of free throws by sophomore guard Mike Smith (Vandalia, Mo.) made it 60-58, actually pulled its starting five players in the opening seconds after halftime and completely emptied its bench. With a lineup comprised of two freshmen, a sophomore and two junior college transfers, the Bucs kept in the game and gave their starters a chance to regroup and reenergize.

            The strategy worked, as the Bucs used an 18-7 run to take a 51-40 deficit and tie the game at 58-58 with 7:34 remaining. From there, the back and forth battle ultimately ended with Strong scoring the final seven points of the game on a 3-pointer and four straight free throws to ice the game.

            "It's always good to see Travis play big like that," Bartow said. "He's a fifth year guy and a great kid. To see him play that way is great."