ESTERO, Fla. (Nov. 25, 2020) -- The ETSU men’s basketball team suffered a 70-47 setback to Abilene Christian in the opening game of the #BeachBubble Gulf Coast Showcase on Wednesday inside Hertz Arena.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

• Cold shooting and turnovers were the difference maker in Wednesday’s season opener as the Bucs shot 29 percent from the field (15-51) and 14 percent from beyond the arc (3-21), while coughing the ball up 23 times. Abilene Christian, who returned four starters from its 20-win team a season ago, scored 20 points off those Buccaneer miscues and made 10 more threes than the Blue and Gold after connecting on 13 of its 23 attempts.
• ETSU converted on its free throw opportunities as the Bucs went 14-of-17 (82%) at the charity stripe; however, the Blue and Gold were called for 26 fouls, which sent the Wildcats to the line 27 times. ACU made 17 of those attempts.
• The Bucs were plus-8 on the boards (38-30) and turned 11 offensive rebounds into 10 second-chance points.
• ETSU only assisted on five of its 15 made field goals, compared to the Wildcats dishing out 14 on their 20 makes.
• The Blue and Gold only held the lead for 28 seconds at 6-5, while the game was tied for 48 seconds and Abilene Christian led for 38:23 of the contest.

TOP PERFORMERS

• David Sloan (Louisville, Ky.) and Ledarrius Brewer (Meridian, Miss.) combined for 21 of the Bucs’ 47 points. Sloan scored a team-high 11 points on 4-of-8 shooting, while Brewer added 10 points (6-of-8 at the free throw line) and grabbed four rebounds.
• Damari Monsanto (Pembroke Pines, Fla.) led the Bucs with eight rebounds and Vonnie Patterson (Louisville, Ky.) accounted for four of ETSU’s five assists.
• Silas Adheke (Lagos, Nigeria) made the start in his Buccaneer debut, finishing with six points and six rebounds, while Ty Brewer (Meridian, Miss.) totaled six points and seven rebounds off the bench.
• Three players scored in double figures for the Wildcats with Clay Gayman scoring a game-high 17 points. Gayman was a perfect 5-of-5 from beyond the arc, while Coryon Mason (13 points) and Kolton Kohl (12 points) combined for 25 points. Kohl, who went 10-of-12 at the free throw line, finished with a double-double as he also grabbed 10 rebounds. Mason and Damien Daniels each recorded five assists. 

COACH SHAY INTERVIEW 

GAME SUMMARY

First Half

Abilene Christian scored five of the first six points to open the contest, but the Bucs responded with five straight points to take a 6-5 lead following a lay-up by Adheke at the 16:37 mark. Despite not scoring for a 6-minute stretch, ETSU only trailed by three after Serrel Smith (St. Petersburg, Fla.) knocked down a three-pointer at the midway point of the half, but that’s as close as the Bucs would get. ACU used a 16-4 run to open a 15-point lead, 27-12, and after pulling within seven with a minute and a half to go, the Wildcats hit a jumper at the buzzer to take a 34-24 lead into the break.

Second Half

Three times in the opening three minutes of the second half the Bucs were able to cut their deficit into single digits, but after making a driving lay-up to make it 39-31 with 17:06 left to play, Sloan was called for a technical foul. The Wildcats used that play to cash in an 8-0 run, which saw their lead balloon to 16, 47-31, at the  14:07 mark. ETSU went scoreless over the next four minutes during that span and ACU doubled its lead. The Wildcats eventually extended their lead to 20 and led by as many as 26.

NOTABLES

• Wednesday marked the start of the 102nd season in Buccaneer basketball … ETSU is now 60-40 in season openers (missing results from 1920-21 and 1932-33 seasons).
• ETSU-Abilene Christian tipped off the 2020-21 NCAA Division I season as this marked the first game played on Opening Day of college hoops.
• ETSU head coach Jason Shay made his head coaching debut on Wednesday … Shay is the 17th head coach to lead the Blue and Gold. 
• David Sloan extended ETSU’s streak of making at least one  three-pointer to 1,036 straight games after knocking down a triple to make it 5-4 at the 17:37 mark of the first half.
• Wednesday was the first ever meeting between ETSU-ACU … The Bucs are now 5-6 all-time against teams from The Lonestar State.

UP NEXT

ETSU returns to action Thursday afternoon when the Bucs take on Austin Peay at 2 p.m.