ASHEVILLE, N.C. (March 11, 2024) – The Buccaneers' memorable run in the Southern Conference Tournament came to an end on Monday night.
After picking off No. 10 VMI, No. 2 UNCG and No. 3 Chattanooga, the ETSU men's basketball team found itself playing in its 13th Southern Conference Championship game. Despite battling top-seeded Samford the entire night, the Bucs came up just short, as ETSU suffered a 76-69 in front of a crowd of 5,112 fans who were majority in the Blue & Gold inside Harrah's Cherokee Center Asheville.
Playing his final collegiate game,
Ebby Asamoah finished with a game-high 18 points, while knocking down three triples en route to setting a new tournament record with 17 in the four games.
Quimari Peterson finished with 17 points and
Karon Boyd added eight points, seven rebounds and one blocked shot.
Jaden Seymour totaled seven points, 11 rebounds and drew 10 fouls on the night.
In game where ETSU made one more field goal than Samford, 24-23, the teams combined for 53 fouls, resulting in 66 trips to the foul line. Samford went 25-of-37, compared to the Bucs finishing 15-for-29. A night after pulling down 52 rebounds in the overtime win over Chattanooga, the Bucs were plus-9 on the glass against the Bulldogs, 41-32. ETSU also grabbed 15 offensive rebounds and cashed those into 13 second-chance points. The Bucs, who made 35 threes over the first three games, went 6-of-23 on Monday night. ETSU held the Bulldogs to 5-of-18 from long distance.
At the postgame awards ceremony, Asamoah and Peterson were named first team all-tournament team, while Seymour landed a spot on the second team.
ETSU set a new SoCon tournament record in steals (42) and tied the tournament record with 168 rebounds. To go with Asamoah's 17 made triples, the Buccaneer guard finished with a 52 percent clip over the four games.
The Bucs finished the year with an overall record 19-16 and posted the most wins since the historic 30-win campaign in 2019-20. This also marked ETSU's first championship game appearance since winning that 2020 title. Samford won its first SoCon championship and improved to 29-5.
Following Samford jumping out to an 11-2 start, the game was tight for the entire contest, which featured seven ties and lead changes. The Bucs answered the Bulldogs with an 11-2 run of their own to pull even at 13, when Asamoah made two of three free throws at the 14:17 mark. From there, neither team led by more than five points for the remainder of the half and Samford took a 40-38 lead into the break.
The Bulldogs started the second half with another surge as they pushed their lead back to nine, 52-43, with 15:30 showing on the clock. Samford's lead hovered around the seven-point threshold, but with the Bulldogs ahead, 63-56 with just under 10 minutes to play, ETSU threw another run at the champs.
ETSU brought the Buccaneer faithful to their feet with an 8-2 run and pulled within a point when Asamoah landed a turnaround jumper, making it 65-64 with 6:23 remaining. However, the Blue & Gold were unable to regain the lead as Samford pushed the lead back to five – and after both teams went scoreless for over three minutes – the Bucs were unable to capitalize. Samford went back up by seven with a minute to play, 73-66 and the closest ETSU could get in the final minute was four when an Asamoah free throw made it 73-69 with 44 ticks left.
The Bulldogs were led by Achor Achor and Jermaine Marshall as they combined for 48 points and 17 rebounds. The duo also accounted for 19 of Samford's 25 made free throws and 14 of its 23 made field goals.
Samford earned the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament and will make its first trip to the Big Dance since 2000 when the Bulldogs were a member of the Ohio Valley Conference.
After playing a two-hour and twenty-eight minute overtime game on Sunday, Monday's regulation game lasted two hours and thirty-seven minutes.
For more information on ETSU men's basketball, visit ETSUBucs.com and click on the men's basketball tab.
