JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (Oct. 29, 2025) - Steve Forbes won his homecoming. 

The ETSU men's basketball team fell 89-70 to Wake Forest on Wednesday night in exhibition play at Freedom Hall. 

ETSU scored the first point of the game when Blake Barkley hit the first of two free throws before the Demon Deacons scored the first basket with a three from Mekhi Mason. Jaylen Smith hit a three in transition from the left side to give the Bucs a 4-3 lead. Wake went on a 15-3 run after that to take an 18-7 lead until Smith stopped the run with three made free throws with 12:03 left in the half. 

After Cam Morris III cut the lead to two possessions out of the under-12 timeout, Wake went on a 9-0 run with five points from Mason to stretch the lead to 15. ETSU cut back into the lead with an 8-0 run started by Morris and extended by a Smith three with 5:23 left. Smith hit Maki Johnson on an inbound play to make it a 10-0 run and a 29-24 Demon Deacons lead at the under-four timeout. 

Blake Barkley hit a pair of layups to get and keep the Bucs within four in the final minutes of the half at 32-28, and after Mason hit a tough shot and grabbed a steal to spring a fast break for Wake, Brian Taylor II jumped a pass on the perimeter and ran it out for a spectacular two-handed dunk to make it 36-30 at the half. 

The Demon Deacons bolted out of the half with back to back threes from Omaha Biliew and Tre'Von Spillers and stretched their lead out to 14 after 1:34 of second half game time. Smith hit a three and Morris was wide open underneath for a two-handed dunk to get it back to 10, but the Buccaneers never got closer. 

Smith, Barkley, and Morris all reached double figures for ETSU with 21, 15, and 11 respectively. Morris had a double-double with 10 rebounds. ETSU shot 36% from the field as a team, 25% from three, and 80% from the free throw line. Wake Forest led rebounding 44-34. 

ETSU begins the 2025-26 season in earnest with the Converse Valkyries on Tuesday at 7:00pm at Freedom Hall. Tickets are available at ETSUTickets.com.