Bucs head into New Year with consecutive SoCon road wins

LEXINGTON, Va. (Dec. 31, 2022) – ETSU men’s basketball closed out 2022 with a bang! 

Five Buccaneers scored at least eight points with Jalen Haynes (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) finishing with a game-high 15 points as ETSU secured a 64-50 win at VMI on Saturday inside Cameron Hall. 

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

• For the second time this season ETSU has won back-to-back games as the Bucs improved to 6-9 on the campaign and 2-0 in Southern Conference play. VMI suffered its fourth straight loss and dipped to 5-10, 0-2.
• ETSU has won 24 of the last 26 meetings against the Keydets and leads the all-time series, 55-15.
• The Blue and Gold used their stifling defense to come away with the victory as ETSU held VMI 26 points below its season average.
• The Bucs held VMI to 33 percent shooting (20-60) and 19 percent from beyond the arc (6-31). The Keydets came into the contest averaging 10.8 made threes per game.
• In their first two SoCon games, the Bucs are holding the opposition to 18 percent (11-62) from beyond the arc.
• ETSU shot 46 percent from the field (25-54); however, the Bucs were 4-of-16 (25%) from three-point range and 10-for-21 (48%) at the free throw line.
• The Bucs were plus-10 on the glass, 43-33, and grabbed 11 offensive rebounds, marking the 11th time this season ETSU finished with double-digit offensive boards. The Blue and Gold totaled 15 second-chance points.
• ETSU was plus-17 in fast-break scoring, 19-2, while getting 31 points from the bench.
• With their four three-pointers, the Bucs have now made at least one triple in 1,107 straight games. 

TOP PERFORMERS

• Jalen Haynes recorded his ninth double-digit scoring game of the season with his 15 points on 6-of-10 shooting. Haynes also grabbed eight rebounds and blocked two shots.
• DeAnthony Tipler (Ashland, Miss.), Jordan King (Albany, N.Y.) and Brock Jancek (Knoxville, Tenn.) accounted for the 31 bench points.
• Tipler scored 13 points as he was 5-of-7 from the field (2-3 from long distance) and added four assists.
• King, who came off the bench for the second time of his Buccaneer career, added 10 points and knocked down the other two ETSU triples – extending his streak of making at least one three to 33 straight games.
• Jancek finished with eight points and four rebounds in 17 minutes off the bench.
• Without the services of Josh Taylor (Atlanta), Jaden Seymour (Charlotte, N.C.) returned to the starting lineup and he stuffed the stat sheet. Seymour registered nine points and seven rebounds.
• VMI was led by Sean Conway as he netted 12 points in the losing effort. 

GAME SUMMARY

The Bucs trailed by three in the opening two minutes, but after that it was all Blue and Gold, as ETSU led by eight at the half, 33-25. 

After falling behind 5-2 early on, ETSU scored six straight points to take its first lead of the night as King fed Seymour for a fast-break dunk, making it 8-5 at the 14:27 mark. 

Even with the Keydets pulling even at 14-14, ETSU never trailed for the remainder of contest. The Bucs used a 7-0 surge to take their largest lead of the stanza, 32-22, thanks to King connecting on a triple and then a jumper, putting the Blue and Gold up by 10 with less than a minute to go in the frame. 

King led all scorers with 10 points at the break, while ETSU limited VMI to 3-of-17 shooting from beyond the arc. The Bucs were plus-10 on the glass, 22-12, and turned seven offensive rebounds into 12 second-chance points. 

ETSU scored the first four points of the second half en route to pushing its advantage to 12, but VMI cut the deficit in half when Conway’s three-pointer made it 43-37 with 12:16 remaining in the contest. 

The Bucs answered with a 9-0 run to see their lead soar to 15, while Allen Strothers (Newport News, Va.) later put ETSU ahead by 17 when his jumper made it 56-39 with 5:18 showing on the clock. 

ETSU’s lead never dipped below double figures for the remainder of the contest and the Bucs made the trip back to Johnson City unbeaten in league play. 

UP NEXT

ETSU gears up for its SoCon home opener when the Bucs host Western Carolina Wednesday night at 7 p.m. inside Freedom Hall.

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