MACON, Ga. (Jan. 8, 2025) – The ETSU men's basketball team passed its first Southern Conference road test!
Showing guts, toughness and togetherness, the Buccaneers rallied for a 70-68 win at Mercer on Wednesday night inside Hawkins Arena.
In a game where the Bucs led for the majority of the night, the Bears stormed back and led with under a minute to go; however, an offensive rebound by
John Buggs III led to the game-winning three-pointer by
Quimari Peterson with 19.8 seconds remaining. ETSU came up with two defensive stops in the final seconds as
Karon Boyd pressured Ahmad Robinson on a flailing shot attempt in the paint with 8.7 seconds showing on the clock. After Buggs corralled the rebound, he made one of two free throws putting ETSU up by two. Robinson then had one final look for a three from the right wing, but
Gabe Sisk came up with the defensive stop to finish off the road victory.
In a game that featured six ties and four lead changes, the Blue & Gold led for nearly 33 minutes. Both teams made 23 field goals and 15 free throws, but the Bucs made two more threes than the Bears, 9-7. ETSU also came up big on the glass as they outrebounded Mercer by 10, 41-31, including 16 offensive rebounds. Those 16 offensive rebounds accounted for 16 second-chance points. The Bucs also held Mercer 15 points below its season average of 83 points per game.
Quimari Peterson and
Jaden Seymour combined for 44 points, while
Gabe Sisk just missed a double-double with nine points and 10 rebounds. Peterson, who was a perfect 4-of-4 at the free throw line, finished with 25 points, five assists, four rebounds and three steals. Seymour, fresh off his SoCon Player of the Week honor on Monday, added 19 points and nine rebounds. The Charlotte native was 6-of-10 from the floor, 3-of-5 from beyond the arc and 4-of-5 at the free throw line. All nine Bucs who saw minutes reached the scoring column.
With the win, ETSU improved to 9-7 overall and 2-1 in conference play, while Mercer – who was 5-0 at home entering the night – dropped to 9-7, 2-1. The Bucs now lead the all-time series 29-13 and have won eight of the last 10 against the Bears in Macon.
The Bucs controlled the opening 20 minutes as they went up 5-3 early on and never trailed for the rest of the half. Eventually, ETSU built a nine-point lead when Peterson laid one in, making it 27-18 with just under eight minutes left before the break. Mercer would pull to within four, but the Bucs scored eight of the final 12 points to take a 40-32 lead into the locker room.
Peterson led the Blue & Gold with 16 points, while ETSU was 46 percent from the field (13-28) and 55 percent from three (6-11) in the first half. The Buccaneer bench also produced 12 of their 20 points in the first 20 minutes.
Mercer threw the first punch to start the second half as they opened on a 6-0 run to cut it to two, but ETSU responded with a 9-2 surge to go back up by nine, 49-40, when Buggs fed Peterson for a fastbreak lay-up with 15:28 remaining.
The back-and-forth battle continued as the Bears went on a 9-1 run over the next four-plus minutes and ETSU's advantage was down to one, 50-49 with just under 11 minutes left to play. A dunk by
DJ Hughes stopped the bleeding, while a steal by Sisk led to Seymour getting fouled and he sank both free throws, making it 54-49 with 8:21 showing on the clock.
Mercer used one final run as they scored 13 of the next 17 points over a five-minute span to take its first lead since the early stages of the first half at 62-58 with 3:22 remaining. The Bucs were never rattled as Seymour came down on their next trip down and netted a three – and after the Bears went 1-of-2 at the free throw line – Peterson tied the game at 63-63 thanks to a lay-up at the 2:18 mark.
The Bears again went back up by three at 66-63 with under two minutes to play, but after a Buggs missed three, Sisk followed with a tip-in to make it a one-point game. The Buccaneer pressure then forced a steal as Peterson came away with the loose ball, leading to Sisk getting fouled on a shot attempt with under a minute to go. Sisk made one of two at the line to tie it at 66; however, Mercer came down and connected on a go-ahead lay-up with 37 ticks showing the clock to go back up by two.
Following a 30-second timeout, Buggs came down with his third rebound of the night and found Peterson again for a contested three in front of the Buccaneer bench, giving ETSU the 69-68 lead with 19.8 left in the game. The Bucs came up with two huge defensive stops to seal the game and their first road win since November 27 at Charlotte.
Four of Mercer's starters scored in double figures with Alex Holt leading the way at 16 points. Robinson was held to 3-of-15 shooting as he finished with 14 points.
The Bucs return home to host The Citadel on Saturday at 4 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.
