By Brian T. Smith
Assistant Sports Editor / Bristol Herald Courier
Published: January 10, 2008

BY BRIAN T. SMITH
BRISTOL HERALD COURIER
Johnson City, Tenn. – East Tennessee State University coach Murry Bartow laid it all out on the table.
Just one minute, 15 seconds had expired from the game clock in the second half when Bartow pulled his starters.
Not one. Not two. All five.
Every single one of them.
“That a way Murry!” shouted a fan from the stands.
The Bucs had gone into halftime down 37-30 to Campbell and came out of the break looking listless and unmotivated.
It was 41-30 Fighting Camels. Now or never.
Bartow decided to bet the house.
“I did it to just get five new guys in that would hopefully give us a little life,” Bartow said. “I didn’t think – and this is coaching; I’m not putting the blame on anybody but myself – but I thought the first half we were a little … we missed shots.”
The gamble paid off.
ETSU re-energized and came to life. And it was like someone had finally decided to turn on the bright lights inside the Memorial Center.
The Bucs fought back to pull out a 74-69 victory over Campbell on Thursday evening in an Atlantic Sun conference matchup before an announced crowd of 3,321.
ETSU senior guard Travis Strong hit a 3-pointer from the far-right wing to put the Bucs ahead 67-64 with 3:05 left. Strong scored seven of the Bucs’ final nine points.
“It felt like the goal just opened all the way up,” said Strong, who scored 16 points and hit 4 of his 6 3-point attempts. “Coach and my players gave me the confidence to shoot, so I just shot.”
But it was the inspired return of Bucs (8-7, 2-0) junior guard Courtney Pigram that was the key.
Pigram had hit a wall in his recent play, and shot just 1 of 10 from the field in ETSU’s 67-60 win over University of South Carolina Upstate last Saturday.
Pigram looked brand new and reborn when he returned to the court after being pulled by Bartow.
He played like his life depended on it, scored 12 of his team-high 23 points in the second half, and emphatically pumped his chest after every big score.
“We weren’t playing as hard as we should’ve been playing while we was in the game,” Pigram said. “By him taking us out of the game, it kind of made us think. We wanted to be on the floor, playing.”
Mike Smith had another strong all-around outing for the Bucs, scoring 10 points, collecting six rebounds and dishing out three assists, while Kevin Tiggs scored eight points and picked up a game-high nine rebounds.
Jonathan Rodriguez scored a game-high 25 points (8-of-17 shooting) and grabbed eight rebounds to lead Campbell (5-9, 1-2).
The Fighting Camels jumped out to an early 13-4 lead. Campbell easily exploited the Bucs’ 2-3 zone defense, with Rodriguez and Reggie Bishop hitting 3-pointers from opposing sides of the court.
“Get ‘em out of the zone Murry!” yelled an ETSU fan.
Bartow followed the plea with a timeout, pulled starters Kevin Tiggs and Kenyona Swader, and inserted point guard Jocolby Davis and forward Mike Smith.
Davis lit a fire.
He forced the action on offense, splitting Campbell’s middle and dishing out to open Bucs on the perimeter. And he shined even brighter on defense, collecting four steals in less than nine minutes.
“I just tried to come in and get everyone going, get everybody more touches,” Davis said.
Yet the Fighting Camels stretched their lead to 33-26 when Jake Wohlfeil hit a long 3-pointer from the right-center wing with 3:42 remaining in the first half.
ETSU shot 30.6 percent (11 of 36) from the field in the first half, and the Bucs’ 30 first-half points set a new season-low.
“We wasn’t making shots in the beginning, but they fell through in the end,” Pigram said.
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ETSU 74, CAMPBELL 69
CAMPBELL (69)
RODRIGUEZ, Jonathan 8-17 8-9 25; VEJRASKA, Kyle 6-9 4-5 16; WOHLFEIL, Jake 5-8 0-0 15; BISHOP, Reggie 3-8 2-2 11; PERKINS, Julius 0-4 2-4 2; FAGBENLE, Oladapo 0-1 0-0 0; DODSON, Preston 0-0 0-0 0; HARTLEY, Junard 0-4 0-0 0.
Totals 22-51 16-20 69.
ETSU (74))
PIGRAM, Courtney 9-17 2-2 23; STRONG, Travis 4-8 4-4 16; SMITH, Mike 3-11 4-4 10; TIGGS, Kevin 3-5 2-3 8; DAVIS, Jocolby 2-8 1-2 6; REED, Andrew 2-7 1-2 5; HAMLIN, Greg 1-5 2-2 4; WILLIAMS, Micah 1-3 0-0 2; HUBBARD, Tommy 0-0 0-0 0; SWADER, Kenyona 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 25-65 16-19 74.
Campbell 32-69
ETSU 30 44-74
3-point goals--Campbell 9-18 (WOHLFEIL, Jake 5-7; BISHOP, Reggie 3-6;
RODRIGUEZ, Jonathan 1-3; HARTLEY, Junard 0-1; VEJRASKA, Kyle 0-1), ETSU 8-21(STRONG, Travis 4-6; PIGRAM, Courtney 3-8; DAVIS, Jocolby 1-2; WILLIAMS,Micah 0-2; SMITH, Mike 0-3). Fouled out--Campbell-None, ETSU-TIGGS, Kevin. Rebounds--Campbell 31 (RODRIGUEZ, Jonathan 8), ETSU 41 (TIGGS, Kevin 9). Assists--Campbell 15 (HARTLEY, Junard 7), ETSU 14 (DAVIS, Jocolby 8). Total fouls--Campbell 17, ETSU 16. Technical fouls--Campbell-None, ETSU-None. A-3,321