BY BRIAN T. SMITH
BRISTOL HERALD COURIER
Johnson City, Tenn. – East Tennessee State’s up-and-down season has hit the wall.
The Buccaneers fell to Belmont, 87-75, on Thursday evening at Memorial Center before an announced crowd of 4,262.
And ETSU’s erratic performance left Bucs coach Murry Bartow searching for answers.
“Our guys are incredibly down right now after this game – we put a lot into winning this one game and we didn’t get it done … So, we can either sulk for a couple more days and Lipscomb will beat us, or we can try and bounce back and pick up our 15th win and try and get this thing heading in the right direction,” Bartow said.
ETSU’s loss to the Bruins follows a disappointing 68-56 defeat to Stetson last Sunday.
More troubling, though, was the fact that Thursday night’s game was a big one for the Bucs – a victory would have given ETSU a tie with Belmont for the top spot in the Atlantic Sun conference.
Yet the Bucs did little more than show up in a lackluster first half.
ETSU was outscored 47-27 in the first period, and the Bucs connected on just 5 of their first 20 attempts.
ETSU also committed 10 turnovers, gave up 20 points in the paint and hit just 18 percent (2 of 11) of its 3-point attempts in the first period.
“It feels real bad, I can’t lie about it. It feels bad right now,” said Courtney Pigram, who scored all of his team-high 16 points for the Bucs in the second half. “But we gotta get rid of it quick, though. We have to have a big turnaround Saturday.”
Following its dismal first half, a re-charged ETSU (14-11, 8-4) emerged in the second period.
The Bucs turned to a full-court press defense to disrupt Belmont’s (18-8, 10-2) motion-heavy offense.
And ETSU was able to pull within 64-53 when Pigram knocked down a 3-pointer with 12 minutes, 14 seconds remaining in the period.
Yet five minutes later, it was 79-58 Bruins, and the Bucs again looked out of synch.
“Are they really that much better than us, Bartow?” yelled out an ETSU fan from the stands.
Kevin Tiggs added 14 points, five rebounds and four assists for the Buccaneers, while Mike Smith and Travis Strong contributed 13 points apiece and Andrew Reed collected a game-high 13 rebounds.
Shane Dansby scored a game-high 28 points for the Bruins and was 12 of 15 from the field.
“We feel confident when we play in here,” Dansby said. “And it’s not just one person. All of us can step up and hit shots and move the ball around and get us going.”
Belmont took a 17-4 lead with 13:23 remaining in the first quarter when Andy Wicke knocked down a 3-pointer from the left wing.
Belmont then stretched its advantage to 25-11 after Dansby hit a 3 near the top of the key.
And while the Bruins’ offense moved and flowed in a tight rhythm, ETSU’s struggled from the opening tip.
Even more telling, though, was the Bucs’ visible lack of communication on the floor.
Pigram often appeared frustrated at the Bucs inability to run smooth offensive sets. And though Bartow constantly yelled and barked out commands from the sideline, he was initially unable to break though to his players.
“Our team’s got a big decision to make right now,” Bartow said. “I think the goal of winning the conference championship is out the window. So, as a team, we’ve gotta quit talking about that. But we can still win 20 games and we can still go to the NCAA tournament. It’s all still on the table.”
Belmont’s 87-point night marked the 10th time this season ETSU has given up at least 75 points.
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