ASHEVILLE, N.C. (March 9, 2024) – The Buccaneers' run in Asheville continues.
 
The ETSU men's basketball team flexed its muscle as the seventh-seeded Buccaneers bounced No. 2 seed UNCG 73-62 in Saturday's Southern Conference quarterfinal inside Harrah's Cherokee Center Asheville.
 
The tournament saw its first upset in terms of seeding as ETSU becomes the fourth No. 7 seed to advance to the conference semifinals in the last five seasons. The prior three teams reached the championship game.
 
A night after burning the nets for 98 points against VMI, the Blue & Gold turned to defense and stellar long-range shooting to stymie the Spartans. The Bucs, who entered the tournament shooting less than 30 percent from beyond the arc, hit at a 50 percent clip on Saturday en route to sinking double-digit threes for the second straight day. ETSU finished 12-of-24 from three-point range against a UNCG team that was one of the leaders in three-point field goal defense.
 
Overall, ETSU shot 43 percent from the field (26-60) and held the Spartans to a 40-percent clip for 40 minutes (24-60). UNCG, who entered the day shooting nearly 40 percent from three, was held to 26 percent (7-27) in Saturday's quarterfinal.
 
Ebby Asamoah led all scorers as he tied season highs in scoring (24) and made threes (6). Following the 6-of-10 shooting from beyond the arc, Asamoah moved his season total to 94, placing him in a tie for fourth with Ge'Lawn Guyn among ETSU single-season leaders. Jadyn Parker also put his name in the Buccaneer record book as he blocked two shots to set the Buccaneer single-season record with 73 swats. Parker also added eight points and eight rebounds (7 offensive). With the seven offensive rebounds, Parker joins Buccaneer greats Jeromy Rodriguez, Zakee Wadood and Rodney English as the only players in program history to register 100 in a season. Parker now has 101 on the year.
 
Quimari Peterson finished with 17 points, six rebounds and four assists, while Jaden Seymour added 12 points, three assists and two steals. Karon Boyd led the Blue & Gold with a career-high 12 rebounds. Boyd also posted four points, three assists and three steals.
 
ETSU extended its win streak to four straight games – matching the longest of the season –
as the Bucs improved to 18-15 overall. The Bucs, who will be playing in their 20th SoCon semifinal (first since 2021), are now 2-2 all-time against UNCG in postseason play. UNCG suffered its third straight quarterfinal exit and ended the year at 21-11.
 
The game was a slugfest early but with UNCG ahead 9-5 four minutes in, ETSU found some rhythm and made its move. The Bucs turned up the heat defensively and mounted a 13-1 run to take control of the game as ETSU led 18-10 following a lay-up by Seymour with 6:46 left in the opening half. The run spanned over seven minutes where UNCG missed 14 straight shots. The Bucs built their largest lead of the frame when Peterson netted a triple to make it 24-14 with 4:24 showing on the clock. UNCG made one final run of the half to pull within three, but Peterson nailed a three at the buzzer to put ETSU ahead 29-23 at the break.
 
In the second half, UNCG got back to within three at 36-33 with 16:33 remaining, but the Bucs responded with a huge 10-0 surge to go up 13, 46-33, at the 14:29 mark. ETSU controlled the remainder of the contest as the closest UNCG would get was eight at 48-40 and 55-47.
 
However, that final threat was answered by a Buccaneer punch, and it was all over from there. The Bucs went on an 8-2 run – capitalized with anther triple by Asamoah – resulting in the dagger as ETSU took its largest lead of the game, 63-49 with 4:27 remaining. The Spartans got it back to single digits one last time, but a quick 5-0 Buccaneer run, pushed it back to 14 to seal the win.
 
UNCG had four players score in double figures with Jalen Breath leading the way with 11. Donovan Atwell, Keyshaun Langley and Kobe Langley all finished with 10.
 
The Bucs outrebounded UNCG by nine, 42-33, with ETSU being plus-four in offensive rebounding, 18-14. The Bucs scored 19 points on those second-chance opportunities. With ETSU holding the Spartans to 23 first-half points, the Bucs are now 88-12 since 2015-16 when holding the opposition to less than 30 in the opening 20 minutes.
 
ETSU will now await the winner of No. 3 Chattanooga-No. 6 Wofford in Sunday's semifinal. Tip-off is set for 6:30 p.m. on ESPNU.
 
For more information on ETSU men's basketball, visit ETSUBucs.com and select the men's basketball tab.