JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (March 2, 2024) – On a day when ETSU honored Ebby Asamoah and Jadyn Parker on Senior Day, it was junior newcomer Quimari Peterson that sent the duo out with a win in their final game inside Freedom Hall.
 
Trailing by one with under 10 seconds remaining, Peterson drove to the rim and made the game-winning lay-up to put the Buccaneers ahead 66-65 with 4.1 seconds showing on the clock. ETSU's defense came up big on the final possession as UNCG never got a final shot off and the Buccaneers defeated the Spartans by one point in front of 4,451 fans on Saturday night inside Freedom Hall. This marked the second straight season ETSU knocked off UNCG by a single point in the regular season finale.
 
In a game where ETSU led for over 32 minutes, the Bucs saw UNCG rally from 10 down in the second half to go up 65-61 with 1:12 left in the contest. ETSU held the Spartans scoreless for the remainder of the game as Peterson fed Jaden Seymour for a three-pointer with just under a minute to go to pull the Bucs within a point. UNCG missed back-to-back threes on its next trip down the floor and Seymour corralled the defensive rebound with 21 ticks left. After facing some pressure to get the ball past half-court, Peterson got the ball and made his move to the rim for his second game-winning play in Southern Conference play as it was reminiscent of The Citadel game.
 
Following an ETSU timeout, UNCG inbounded ball but couldn't handle the Bucs' pressure and was forced to burn another timeout with 1.7 left. Again, the Spartans couldn't move the ball towards the rim as they were forced to go to Kobe Langley in the backcourt and his attempt at a game-winner didn't beat the clock and ETSU celebrated with the win.
 
Seymour led the Blue & Gold with 18 points (3-of-6 from beyond the arc) and added six rebounds, while Peterson and Asamoah each netted 14. Peterson added five assists, four rebounds and two steals. Asamoah went 8-of-11 at the free throw line. Parker finished with six points, nine rebounds and two blocked shots. With the pair of blocks, Parker tied the single-season program record of 71, which is also held by Isiah Brown, set in 2010-11. Karon Boyd went 4-of-6 from the field with eight points and three rebounds, while Gabe Sisk accounted for all six of ETSU's bench points.
 
For the game, ETSU shot 45 percent (23-51) from the field, while the Bucs knocked down six threes and finished 14-of-19 at the free throw line. UNCG shot 43 percent (23-54) and connected on 11 of its 29 attempts from long distance. The Spartans were 8-of-15 at the charity stripe.
 
ETSU was outrebounded by one, 33-32, while UNCG held the edge in offensive rebounds, 14-11. The Spartans were plus-nine in second-chance points, 15-6, while ETSU was plus-14 in the paint, 32-18.
 
With the win, ETSU improved to 16-15 overall and 8-10 in SoCon play, resulting in the Bucs being the No. 7 seed in next week's SoCon Tournament in Asheville. ETSU will play No. 10 seed VMI on Friday at 7:30 p.m. inside Harrah's Cherokee Center Asheville. The Bucs' 16 wins are the most since the historic 30-win season in 2019-20. UNCG, who secured the No. 2 seed, dropped to 21-10, 12-6. The Spartans will await the winner of ETSU-VMI and play in Saturday's quarterfinal game at 2:30 p.m.
 
Saturday marked ETSU's 11th game when being decided by three points or less. The Bucs are 6-5 in those contests.
 
The Bucs jumped out to a fast start by scoring the first six points and led until UNCG went ahead 10-8 on a three-pointer by Donovan Atwell at the 13:57 mark. That would be the Spartans only lead of the half as ETSU scored 11 of the next 13 points to go back up by seven, 19-12 following a Peterson free throw near the midway point of the stanza. The Bucs led by as many as 10 in the opening frame and took a 32-23 lead into intermission.
 
UNCG flipped the script to start the second half as they pulled within four in the opening minute of play, but the Bucs answered with an 11-5 run to go back up by 10, thanks to Peterson feeding Seymour for a triple, making it 43-33 with 17:13 left to play.
 
The Bucs held momentum until UNCG got back to within five, 50-45, but the Spartans gave it away when Mikeal Brown-Jones – their leading scorer – picked his fourth personal foul, which then turned into his fifth when he was charged with a technical at the 8:41 mark. Following four made free throws, ETSU led by nine (54-45) and the Bucs never trailed until UNCG's Joryan Saizonou made his only field goal of the night to make it 61-58 with just under three minutes left in the contest.
 
ETSU rose to the challenge and Asamoah knocked down a clutch three to tie the game at 61, resulting in the tight finish down the stretch. The Spartans went on to score the next four points to go up 65-61, but the Bucs were destined to close out Senior Night with a win. Seymour hit his three from the left wing and Peterson finished things off with the driving lay-up with four seconds left to complete the rally.
 
Keyshaun Langley led the Spartans with 25 points, while Brown-Jones – who entered the day averaging 19.7 points per game – finished with seven points and four rebounds.
 
The Bucs now lead the rivalry 22-20, while 11 of the last 20 in the series have been decided by seven points or less.
 
ETSU heads to Asheville, N.C. to begin SoCon Tournament play on Friday night against VMI. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m.
 
For more information on Buccaneer men's basketball, visit ETSUBucs.com and click on the men's basketball page.