Saturday, November 13, 2004

(Nov. 13, 2004) - Powered by double-double performances from juniors Brad Nuckles (Council, Va.) and Ben Rhoda (Dayton, Ohio), the East Tennessee State University men's basketball team rolled in their final preseason tune-up of the season, dropping VASDA USA 110-69 in front of a crowd of 3,280 Saturday afternoon at Brooks Gym.

Along with Nuckles and Rhoda, junior Tim Smith (Newport News, Va.) played extremely well, finishing with a game-high 21 points and nine assists. Meanwhile, senior James Anthony (Tampa, Fla.) and junior Dillion Sneed (Chicago) finished with 16 and 18 points, respectively.

"We still have a lot of things we want to work on, but I saw a lot of good out there tonight," said ETSU head coach Murry Bartow. "Every player on our bench contributed something in this game and we need that to continue throughout the regular season."

Indeed, the numbers looked good across the board for the Bucs, but Nuckles' 18 points and 14 rebounds, along with Rhoda's 12 points and 11 rebounds were quite impressive. The Bucs shot a blistering 21-of-36 from the floor for a 57.5 percent shooting clip, while also holding VASDA to just 28.8 percent from the floor.

The Bucs led just 19-17 after seven minutes of play in the game, but outscored VASDA 28-18 the rest of the first half to lead 47-35 at the break. In the second half, ETSU opened up their offense and used a 15-5 offensive spurt to take a 64-41 lead with 14:26 remaining in the game. Gradually building their lead from there, a 15-0 run at the end of the game finalized the result.

The entire starting lineup for the Bucs shot well over 50 percent from the floor, with Smith hitting on 8-of-10 and Anthony connecting on 6-of-8 shooting, including a 3-of-3 mark from 3-point range.

For VASDA, Marcus Robinson led the way with 16 points, while Reggie Brown and Ron Lewis both had 13 points.

The Bucs will open their regular season against UVa.-Wise on Saturday, Nov. 20, with tip scheduled for 4 p.m. in Memorial Center.