JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (Dec. 14, 2021) – It’s not how you start. It’s how you finish.

The ETSU men’s basketball team learned that the hard way Tuesday night as the Bucs squandered a 13-point first half lead en route to suffering a 69-67 setback to North Carolina A&T inside Freedom Hall.

In a tightly contested game late, the Aggies scored the game-winning bucket on Tyler Maye’s back door layup with 7.2 seconds remaining. After getting to half court with 4.4 seconds left and calling timeout, Ty Brewer’s (Meridian, Miss.) turnaround, fadeaway jumper was off the mark and North Carolina A&T secured its first road win of the season.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS  

• The Bucs came out flying and dunking early on and connected on 14 of their first 18 shots; however, things quickly fizzled as ETSU finished 14-for-37, while costly turnovers also plagued the Blue and Gold.
• The Aggies scored 26 points off 18 ETSU turnovers, while the Bucs only mustered seven off 11 A&T miscues.
• Free throw shooting was also a huge discrepancy with North Carolina A&T going 16-of-23, compared to the Bucs only going 2-for-3.
• For the contest, ETSU managed to shoot 51 percent (28-55) and was 43 percent from beyond the arc (9-21), but the Aggies posted a 57 percent clip in the second half (12-21) and finished 47 percent for the game (25-53).
• ETSU assisted on 19 of its 28 made field goals.
• The game featured four ties and 10 lead changes, while ETSU led for nearly 28 minutes.
• The Bucs suffered their first home loss of the season and dipped to 7-4, while the Aggies earned their first road win of the year, improving to 4-8.

TOP PERFORMERS

• Jordan King (Albany, N.Y.) paced the Blue and Gold with 15 points on 5-of-7 shooting (4-6 from three), while the Brewer brothers, Ty and Ledarrius, also scored in double figures.
• Ledarrius netted 14 (6-of-9 from the floor) and Ty added 13 points and six rebounds. Ledarrius accounted for eight of the Bucs’ 18 turnovers.
• David Sloan (Louisville, Ky.) slung out a season-high nine assists, but only scored three points on 1-of-6 shooting.
• Maye led all players with 21 points and Marcus Watson added a double-double (19 points, 10 rebounds) in the winning effort.

POSTGAME INTERVIEW 

Listen to postgame comments from head coach Desmond Oliver with Voice of the Bucs Jay Sandos. 

GAME SUMMARY

The Bucs stormed out of the gates early as they assisted on their first six shots – four of which were dunks – and led 14-6 in the opening three and a half minutes. ETSU’s lead eventually grew to 13 when Mohab Yasser (Giza, Egypt) assisted on a Jordan King three, making it 37-24 with three minutes left before the break. Unfortunately, the Bucs went scoreless for the final 2:44 and the Aggies finished on a 7-0 run to make it 37-31 at the half.

ETSU pushed its lead back to nine in the first two-plus minutes of the second half, but another cold stretch set in and North Carolina A&T mounted a 12-0 run to take a 48-45 lead with just under 12 minutes to play.

The Aggies led by as many as seven with 5:28 remaining, but the Bucs clawed back as they scored 11 of the next 13 to regain a 67-65 lead following a Charlie Weber (Owings, Md.) lay-up with 1:42 showing on the clock.

However, that marked ETSU’s last points as the Bucs missed their final three shots and the Aggies scored four straight to end the contest and closed out the victory.

UP NEXT

ETSU now hits the road for three straight games beginning Saturday afternoon at UNC Asheville. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m. inside Kimmel Arena.  

For more information on ETSU men’s basketball, visit ETSUBucs.com and click on the men’s basketball tab.