CHARLTESTON, S.C. (Feb. 19, 2022) – Ledarrius Brewer (Meridian, Miss.) ended an explosive first half with a half-court shot and the Buccaneers rode that momentum for the remainder of the game.

After the teams combined for 92 first-half points, ETSU men’s basketball locked down defensively – limiting The Citadel to 22 points in the second half – as the Blue and Gold gutted out a 77-67 victory Saturday afternoon inside McAlister Field House.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

• The Bucs, who have now won 12 of the last 16 against The Citadel in Charleston, improved to 14-15 overall and 6-10 in SoCon play. Saturday also marked ETSU’s third true road win of the season.
• For the game, ETSU shot 40 percent (27-68) from the field and 19 percent (5-27) from beyond the arc, while the Bulldogs finished 39 percent (23-59) and 41 percent (13-32) from long distance.
• The Bucs limited The Citadel to 22 second-half points, while holding the home team to 27 percent shooting in the final 20 minutes. After seeing the Bulldogs make 13 threes in the first half, The Citadel went 2-of-13 in the second. The 22 second-half points marked the lowest total allowed by the Bucs since USC Upstate scored 18 first-half points back on Nov. 18.
• ETSU shot 50 percent in the opening stanza (19-38) and made five three-pointers, but for the second straight game, the Blue and Gold were held without a three in the second half (finished 0-13).
• The Bucs trailed by 10 with 8:19 remaining in the first half, but ETSU scored 29 of the next 41 points to go ahead 52-47 with 17:56 left in the contest. ETSU took its largest lead of the night at 68-55, following a dunk by Mohab Yasser (Giza, Egypt) with 9:15 left in the contest.
• ETSU had six players log minutes and all of them scored points, including Jaden Seymour (Charlotte, N.C.) finishing with four points and nine rebounds before fouling out with 4:38 remaining.
• The Bucs were plus-4 on the boards, 43-39, while turning 16 offensive rebounds into 17 second chance points.
• ETSU was plus-12 in points off turnovers, 16-4, while being plus-22 in the paint, 42-20.
• The Bucs got to the charity stripe and converted, going 18-of-20 (90%).
• With the loss, The Citadel moved to 11-15 overall and 5-10 in conference play.

TOP PERFORMERS  

• Ledarrius Brewer scored a season-high 29 points and grabbed five rebounds in a career-high 38 minutes. Brewer was 7-of-7 at the free throw line and knocked down four of ETSU’s five made threes.
• Mohab Yasser came off the bench to score 12 points – his sixth double figure scoring game of the campaign – while adding five rebounds, three assists and two steals. Yasser, who also logged a career-high 32 minutes, was also perfect at the free throw line as he finished 6-for-6.
• David Sloan (Louisville, Ky.) and Jordan King (Albany, N.Y.) rounded out the four Bucs in double figures. Sloan netted 13 points and King posted 11 points and six rebounds. King played 38 minutes and Sloan notched 34.
• Ty Brewer (Meridian, Miss.) just missed a double-double as he totaled eight points and 11 rebounds in nearly 38 minutes of work.
• The Citadel was led by Tyler Moffe’s 20 points, while Hayden Brown recorded 17 points and 18 rebounds.

POSTGAME INTERVIEW

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

GAME SUMMARY

Despite getting off to a sluggish start where the Bucs were down 13-4 in the opening five and a half minutes, ETSU caught some rhythm and pulled within two, 22-20 with 10:18 remaining before the break. The Citadel then used an 11-3 spurt to take its largest lead of the game at 33-23, but the Bucs finished the half strong and Ledarrius Brewer’s half-court heave at the buzzer gave ETSU its first lead since the opening bucket, 47-45.

Brewer had 23 points in the opening 20 minutes – and after ETSU missed nine of its first 11 shots to start the game – the Bucs made 17 of their final 27 to end the half.

The Bucs opened the second half scoring the first five points and pushed the score to 54-47 following a pair of free throws by Ledarrius Brewer at the 16:28 mark.

From there, the Bulldogs inched within three, but ETSU extended the margin with a 12-2 run, making it 68-55 following the Yasser dunk with just under 10 minutes left.

The Bucs went cold as they were held to one point for nearly seven minutes, but after The Citadel cut its deficit to five, Ledarrius Brewer stopped the drought with a huge baseline jam, putting ETSU ahead, 71-64 with 2:37 showing on the clock. The rest of ETSU’s scoring came at the free throw line where the Bucs made their final six freebies and secured the 10-point road win.

UP NEXT

ETSU heads home to take on in-state rival Chattanooga in the Bucs’ final home game on Wednesday night at 7 p.m.

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