CLEVELAND, Ohio (Nov. 21, 2023) – The Buccaneers have had a lot of success in MTEs over the years.
 
The Blue & Gold look to add to the trophy case this week in Cleveland.
 
ETSU men's basketball heads to Ohio to play in the Viking Invitational, which begins on Wednesday when the Bucs face tournament host Cleveland State at 7 p.m. inside Woodling Gymnasium. On Friday, ETSU takes on Alabama A&M at 7 p.m.  
 
ETSU VS. CLEVELAND STATE
DATE: Wednesday, Nov. 22
TIME: 7 p.m. 
LOCATION: Woodling Gym (Cleveland, Ohio)
TEAMS: ETSU (2-2) at Cleveland State (3-2) 
LIVE VIDEO: ESPN+
LIVE STATS: CSUVikings.com
RADIO: WXSM-AM 640 | 104.9 NASH ICON (Jay Sandos)
TWITTER: @ETSU_MBB
 
ETSU VS. ALABAMA A&M
DATE: Friday, Nov. 24
TIME: 7 p.m. 
LOCATION: Woodling Gym (Cleveland, Ohio)
TEAMS: ETSU (2-2) at Alabama A&M (0-2) 
LIVE VIDEO: ESPN+
LIVE STATS: CSUVikings.com
RADIO: WXSM-AM 640 | 104.9 NASH ICON (Jay Sandos)
TWITTER: @ETSU_MBB
 
ABOUT THE BUCS

• ETSU enters this week's MTE with an overall record of 2-2
• The Bucs are coming off a thrilling 70-68 comeback win over Davidson last Friday night inside Freedom Hall 
• ETSU snapped its two-game losing skid with the win last Friday … Trailing by eight at halftime (31-23), the Bucs scored 47 second-half points as the Blue & Gold rallied for a 70-68 victory over their former SoCon rival … The Bucs scored 47 total points in their previous game at Butler … The crowd of 4,479 was the largest attended game since Feb. 23, 2022 when ETSU hosted Chattanooga and it was the largest crowd for a non-conference game since the 2019-20 season when 5,126 saw the Bucs take down Appalachian State the Wednesday before Thanksgiving … ETSU and Davidson played its first game since Jan. 26, 2005 – a span of 6,870 days … Ebby Asamoah netted a season-high 24 points, while grabbing seven rebounds, dishing out two assists and posting three steals … Karon Boyd added 17 points and six rebounds, while Quimari Peterson recorded 14 points and seven assists … Jadyn Parker tied a career-high with 12 rebounds and netted six points … As a team, ETSU won the rebounding battle for the first time of the season as they were plus-10 on the glass, 42-32 and grabbed 14 offensive rebounds (16 second-chance points)
• Since the start of the 2016-17 season, ETSU has captured five MTE titles … The Bucs' last MTE title came in 2021-22 when ETSU won the Naples Invitational as they completed the "All State" run with wins over Murray State, Missouri State and Kent State … In 2016, the Bucs won the Sanford Pentagon Showcase in South Dakota with wins over Milwaukee, South Dakota State and UC Irvine, followed by winning the 2018 Sun Bowl Classic (wins over Wyoming and Norfolk State) and the Cayman Island Classic Mainland (wins over Chicago State and Sam Houston State) … In 2019, ETSU won the Maui Invitational Mainland (wins over Delaware State and Southern Utah)
• ETSU's starting lineup of Quimari Peterson, Karon Boyd, Ebby Asamoah, Jaden Seymour and Jadyn Parker have accounted for the majority of the Bucs' offense this season … The starters have scored 219 of the Bucs' 266 points (82%), registered 80 of their 95 made field goals (84%) and 24 of their 29 made three-pointers (83%)
• After scoring 23 bench points in the season-opener over King, ETSU's bench has totaled 24 points the last three games … The Bucs' bench scored four at Elon, 18 at Butler and two against Davidson … The Buccaneer bench is averaging 11.8 points per game 
• Newcomers Quimari Peterson and Karon Boyd have been a consistent duo when it comes to minutes played … The Buccaneer tandem rank one-two in the SoCon in minutes per game with Peterson averaging 36.5 and Boyd averaging 34.3 minutes per game … Peterson played all 40 minutes last time out against Davidson … Peterson ranks 28th nationally with his 36.5 minutes per game
• Quimari Peterson has led the Bucs in scoring two of the first four games of the season … Peterson scored a team-high 15 points in the opening win over King and poured in 29 points at Elon … Peterson, a Gary, Ind. native, ranks eighth in the SoCon in scoring (15.5), 12th in field goal percentage (.443), seventh in assists (3.5) and steals (1.8), ninth in assist/turnover ratio (1.3) and first in minutes played (36.5)
• Since Feb. 16, 1987 in a game against Davidson, the Bucs have made at least one 3-pointer in 1,128 consecutive games ... ETSU was 0-for-8 in that 1987 game ... With Western Kentucky going 0-for-21 from beyond the arc on Nov. 9 at Wichita State, the Bucs now have the third-longest streak in the country behind Duke and UNLV … UNLV tops the list with 1,197 games
• The 2023-24 Buccaneer roster features 15 players ... ETSU's roster consists of one graduate player, two redshirt juniors, four juniors, one redshirt sophomore, three sophomores and four freshmen … Three players hail from North Carolina and Indiana, and one each from Tennessee, Iowa, West Virginia, New Jersey, New York, Kentucky, Virginia and Maryland
• The Bucs return four players from last year's roster who logged minutes, including starters Jaden Seymour and Allen Strothers, along with Justice Smith and Braden Ilic … Overall, ETSU only returns 29 percent of its scoring, 37 percent of its rebounding and 38 percent of its minutes played in 2022-23 … Seymour totaled 253 points, 218 rebounds and 1,793 minutes, Smith posted 237 points, 111 rebounds and 683 minutes, while Allen Strothers recorded 109 points, 51 rebounds and 776 minutes and Braden Ilic added for 46 points, 33 rebounds and 199 minutes
• After losing three starters and eight players from last year's team, head coach Brooks Savage and his staff brought in 11 new guys for the 2023-24 season … Seven of the Bucs are transfers – Ebby Asamoah (Delaware), Karon Boyd (USC Aiken), DJ Hughes (Butler), Jadyn Parker (North Florida), Quimari Peterson (John A. Logan), Tyler Rice (William & Mary) and Timmy Fasehun (Gulf Coast State College) … Four Bucs are true freshmen – Maki Johnson (Huntington Prep), Gabe Sisk (Ballard HS), Jaxson Jones (The Skill Factory) and David Meriwether (Lawrence North HS) 

ABOUT CLEVELAND STATE

• Cleveland State has won three of its last four and is 3-2 through its first five games 
• After winning three straight games, the Vikings suffered a 69-62 setback at Eastern Michigan last Saturday 
• Cleveland State has three players averaging double figures in scoring with Tristan Enaruna averaging a team-best 16.6 points per game, while Tae Williams is adding 14.2 per contest and Drew Lowder is at 12.4 points per game 
• Enaruna is also adding 6.6 rebounds per game and Williams is posting 5.8 rebounds per game 
• As a team, the Vikings are averaging 78.8 points per game and shooting 45 percent from the field 
• Enaruna was named to the preseason all-conference team, while Cleveland State was picked to finish fourth in the Horizon League … The senior forward averaged 15.7 points and 6.8 rebounds in his first season with Cleveland State last season 
• Cleveland State made the championship game of the last year's Horizon League Tournament in Daniyal Robinson's first year at the helm 
• The Vikings won 21 games last year, which set a record for wins under a first-year head coach in program history 
• Cleveland State returns 62 percent of its scoring and 51 percent of its rebounding from a year ago 

 
ABOUT ALABAMA A&M

• Alabama A&M, who plays at Auburn on Tuesday night, has dropped its first two games of the season 
• The Bulldogs suffered an 83-67 loss at North Alabama in the season opener and fell 106-81 at Lipscomb on Saturday 
• Alabama A&M is averaging 74.0 points per game but allowing 94.5 per contest
• The Bulldogs are plus-5.5 on the boards through their first two games; however, A&M is averaging 17.0 turnovers per game 
• Alabama A&M is being outscored by 33 points in the half (91-58) in its first two games 
• Dailin Smith is averaging 16.0 points per game

 
BUCS VS. CLEVELAND STATE 
Wednesday marks the second all-time meeting between the two programs with ETSU winning the first-ever matchup 80-55 back on Dec. 21, 2019 in Johnson City … The Bucs were led by Tray Boyd's 16-point performance, while Jeromy Rodriguez and Daivien Williamson each scored 14 points … Isaiah Tisdale,current Director of Player Development, finished with six points, four steals, three blocks and three rebounds in the win … ETSU held the Vikings to 37 percent shooting (20-54) and 13 percent from beyond the arc (1-8) … The Bucs cored 19 points off 20 turnovers and got 38 bench points. 
 
BUCS IN OHIO 
This week is the Bucs' first trip to the Buckeye State since Dec. 10, 2016 when ETSU played at Dayton … The Bucs dropped that contest 75-61 … The last time ETSU faced a team from the Buckeye State was on Nov. 24, 2021 when the Bucs beat Kent State 57-51 in the title game of the Naples Invitational … The Blue & Gold have won their last two games against teams from Ohio. 
 
BUCS VS. ALABAMA A&M
Friday will be the first-ever meeting between ETSU and Alabama A&M … This is the second all-time matchup for the Bucs against a SWAC opponent and the first since Nov. 25, 2006 when ETSU beat Southern 66-52 in the South Padre Island Classic.
 
UP NEXT 
ETSU wraps up play in the Viking Invitational on Friday night when the Bucs take on Alabama A&M at 7 p.m. 
  
For more information on ETSU men's basketball, go to ETSUBucs.com and click on the men's basketball tab.