BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (Jan. 18, 2025) – Defense travels and it did so in a big way for the Buccaneers on Saturday night in Birmingham.
 
Playing in front the second-largest crowd in Samford history, the ETSU men's basketball team silenced the Bulldogs and the 4,723 fans, as the Buccaneers snapped Samford's 28-game home win streak with a 65-60 victory on CBS Sports Network.
 
In a rematch of last year's Southern Conference championship game, both teams landed punch after punch, but with ETSU ahead by one, sophomore guard Maki Johnson delivered the knockout blow. Johnson netted the biggest three of his collegiate career as a corner triple made it a 61-57 Buccaneer lead with less than 45 seconds left. Quimari Peterson iced it with a pair of free throws in the closing seconds and ETSU secured the five-point SoCon road win, resulting in Samford's first home loss since Feb. 25, 2023 against Furman. The 60 points marked the Bulldogs' lowest output in a home loss since Jan. 30, 2016, when Chattanooga held Samford to 56.
 
ETSU's defense held Samford 27 points below its season average as the Bulldogs shot just 38 percent from the field (23-61) and 35 percent from beyond the arc (7-20). Both teams scored 30 points in the paint and 19 second-chance points, but the Blue & Gold were plus-six in points off turnovers (15-9) and plus-five in transition scoring (15-10). The Bucs only turned the ball over 12 times against a Bulldog team who was forcing nearly 18 per contest.
 
Overall, ETSU made one more field goal than the Bulldogs (24-23), one more three (8-7) and two more free throws (9-7). The game featured eight ties and seven lead changes, while ETSU led for 17:53 and Samford held the advantage for 17:38.
 
Quimari Peterson, who played all 40 minutes, scored a game-high 19 points and dished out five assists, while Jaden Seymour added a double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds. Karon Boyd also pulled down 11 boards to go with eight points, three steals, three blocks and two assists. Maki Johnson scored in double figures for the fifth time of his career as he finished with 11 points on three made triples.
 
Playing without John Buggs III – one of the top three-point shooters in the country for nearly the majority of the game – ETSU regrouped and put together a total team effort en route to improving to 11-8 overall and 4-2 in league play. Samford, who had won the last six in the series, dipped to 15-4, 5-1. With the win, ETSU is now 9-2 all-time against Samford in Birmingham. Samford's 28-game home win streak was tied for the second-longest streak in the country with UConn and Iowa State. UConn also fell at home on Saturday as Creighton took down the reigning national champions, 68-63.

 
The first half was a game of runs as ETSU jumped out to a 17-8 lead in the opening seven-plus minutes, but Samford responded to erase the Buccaneers' largest advantage of the night. Over the next nine minutes and eleven seconds, the Bulldogs went on a 21-4 run to go up eight, 29-21 with 3:32 left in the half. Without the services of their best sharpshooter, ETSU weathered storm and closed the frame on an 8-0 surge to pull even at 29 with both teams heading into the locker room.
 
Seymour led the Bucs with nine points and six rebounds in the opening 20 minutes, while both teams made 12 field goals and ETSU was plus-one in made threes (4-3) and Samford was plus-one in made free throws (2-1). The teams were called for just 11 fouls in the first half.
 
The second half went back-and-forth as neither team led by more than six, but ETSU made clutch plays late to pull out the victory.
 
The Bulldogs held a pair of five-point leads in the opening six-plus minutes as Samford led 39-34 and 41-36, but Peterson rattled off five straight points to tie things up at 41 following a pull-up jumper with just over 10 minutes remaining.
 
ETSU then regained momentum as the Bucs grabbed a five-point lead when Boyd came away with a steal and Johnson drove in for a lay-up, making it 50-45 at the 6:47 mark.
 
But with the game having a postseason tournament feel, Samford rallied behind its Bulldog faithful and knotted things up at 52 following two free throws with less than five minutes to go. A pair of Buccaneer sophomores then provided a key spark when Johnson forced a steal and Gabe Sisk drove in for a fastbreak lay-up where he was fouled and converted the three-point play – putting ETSU back ahead 55-52. However, Samford responded when Trey Fort hit a deep three from the Bulldog logo to tie it back up at 55, but back-to-back offensive rebounds by Seymour eventually led to the preseason all-conference selection laying one back up for the bucket where he was fouled.
 
Like Sisk, Seymour finished off the old-fashioned three-point-play and ETSU led for good at 58-55 with 2:24 remaining. The Bulldogs pulled to within a point and had the chance to retake the lead with less than a minute to play but Fort missed a turnaround jumper and Seymour corralled the defensive rebound. On the Bucs' ensuing possession, Peterson found Johnson for the open corner three in front of ETSU's bench and the Blue & Gold led 61-57 with 44 ticks left. Peterson iced the game with four straight free throws down the stretch and ETSU came away victorious.

 
Rylan Jones led the Bulldogs with 12 points, while Fort – who entered the day averaging 15 points per game – was held to eight points on 3-of-11 shooting.
 
The Bucs now return home for back-to-back games starting Wednesday night when ETSU hosts Western Carolina at 7 p.m. inside Freedom Hall.
 
For more information on ETSU men's basketball, go to ETSUBucs.com and click on the men's basketball tab.