Thursday, February 09, 2006

(Feb. 9, 2006) - Senior guard Tim Smith (Newport News, Va.) became ETSU basketball's all-time leading scorer, surpassing former Buccaneer great Greg Dennis' total of 2,204 points as the Bucs dropped Campbell 89-81 in Atlantic Sun Conference play Thursday night at Memorial Center.

Smith scored a team-high 24 points in all, and his career total now stands at 2,215. As a team, the Bucs (15-8, 12-4 A-Sun) have now won 14 of their last 16 and hold a 1/2-game lead in the A-Sun regular season standings. Meanwhile, Campbell drops to 8-14, 7-8.

"It felt like it was going to be easy, but it wasn't," said Smith, who needed 14 points to break the record and didn't get it until a free throw at the 5:14 mark of the second half. "I guess I was too loose early in the game. They were clogging the middle on us in the zone and they didn't make it easy."

ETSU head coach Murry Bartow was pleased to see Smith break the record.

"I'm happy for Timmy and glad to see him get the record behind him," Bartow said. "Greg Dennis was a great player here and it's special for Tim to catch a guy like that. Tim's such a great competitor, a fighter and a winner."

Winning seemed to be a question mark for the Bucs late in Thursday's game, a contest which pitted ETSU, the nation's No. 1 scoring offense at 84.0 ppg, and Campbell, the nation's No. 3 scoring offense at 87.3 ppg. Despite the fact that ETSU never trailed in the contest, the Fighting Camels did manage to cut the Bucs' 10-point halftime lead to only two at 66-64 with 8:06 left in the game.

From there, though, junior Travis Strong (Memphis) scored back-to-back baskets and Smith hit his record-setting free throw to keep the Bucs up by four. At 79-74, Smith then snatched a loose ball in front of the ETSU bench and drove to the basket, connecting on the shot and getting fouled. With the made free throw, it was 82-74 and the Campbell threat had been silenced.

For the game, five other ETSU players scored in double figures with Smith. Junior guard Travis Strong (Memphis) pitched in 18 points, while senior guard Ben Rhoda (Dayton, Ohio) and freshman guard Courtney Pigram (Memphis) collected 10 apiece. Meanwhile, both junior forward Brad Nuckles (Council, Va.) and senior forward Dillion Sneed collected double-doubles, with Nuckles picking up 11 rebounds and 13 points, while Sneed netted 10 points and 10 rebounds.

Campbell had five players in double figures, led by sophomore guard Reggie Bishop's 20-point effort. Along with Bishop, senior forward Maurice Latham collected a double-double with 18 points and 14 rebounds, while junior guard Eric Smith netted 16, sophomore guard Jake Wohlfeil collected 12 and junior guard Ledell Eackles. For Latham, it was his fourth straight double-double, while Smith is now 26-of-48 from behind the arc in his last four games. He was 5-of-10 Thursday night.

ETSU returns to action in its regular season home finale Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m., taking on A-Sun rival Gardner-Webb. Meanwhile, Campbell continues on the road to face Kennesaw State Saturday at 5 p.m.