JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (Feb. 25, 2025) - The final push to Asheville has arrived, and ETSU still has plenty to play for in the final 72 hours of the regular season.

ETSU men's basketball hosts the Mercer Bears in the home finale on Wednesday at 6 p.m. inside Freedom Hall. In addition to senior night festivities, fans can take in the second annual Small Dog Race presented by Johnson City Honda at halftime.
 
GAME INFO
DATE: Wednesday, February 26th
TIME: 6 p.m.
LOCATION: Freedom Hall (Johnson City, Tenn.)
TEAMS: ETSU (17-12, 10-6) vs. Mercer (12-17, 5-11)
LIVE VIDEO: ESPN+ (Pete Yanity, Dean Keener, and Dave Friedman)
LIVE STATS: ETSUBucs.com
RADIO: WXSM-AM 640 (Jay Sandos and Bruce Tranbarger)
TWITTER: @ETSU_MBB
 
ABOUT THE BUCS
-Two games remain in the SoCon regular season, and ETSU is 10-6 in SoCon play after a 73-68 win at Wofford on Saturday. If the season ended before today's games, the Bucs would be the fourth seed in the 2025 SoCon Men's Basketball Championship in Asheville. With two wins and at least one Samford loss in the final two games, the Bucs could rise to the third seed.
-This is the final scheduled home game for the Bucs in 2024-25. Before the game, ETSU will honor seven players for senior night: Davion Bradford, John Buggs III, D.J. Hughes, Quimari Peterson, Jaden Seymour, Allen Strothers, and Roosevelt Wheeler, along with senior manager Brandon Webb. Senior night ceremonies will begin at approximately 5:45. ETSU athletics will also honor seniors from the cheer and dance teams at halftime.
-Quimari Peterson was named SoCon Player of the Week and Lou Henson National Player of the Week for the week ending February 23rd, 2025. He played all 80 minutes for ETSU, scoring 56 points and collecting 23 rebounds while shooting 56% on three-point field goals. He achieved his second and third career double-doubles with 29 points and 13 rebounds against UNCG on February 19th, followed by 27 points and 10 rebounds at Wofford on February 22nd.
-Peterson scored his 1,000th point as a Buccaneer on against UNCG, becoming just the seventh Buccaneer to achieve the feat in his first two seasons in Johnson City. Tom Chilton, T.J. Cromer, Greg Dennis, Jalen Riley, Tim Smith, and Kevin Tiggs are the others. Peterson, Cromer, Riley, and Tiggs scored 1,000 points in their junior and senior years; Smith and Dennis scored 1,000 in their freshman and sophomore years, and Chilton scored 1,000 in his sophomore and junior years when freshmen were not eligible to play college basketball.
-Peterson is one of the nation's top bucket-getters this season. He is 11th in Division I in made field goals (206) and total points (563), and 31st in points per game (19.4), leading the SoCon in all three categories. He also ranks 32nd in Division I in steals (56) and 54th in steals per game (1.93). He is third in the SoCon in total assists (109), fourth in assists per game (3.8), and fifth in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.76).
-Fifth-year senior Jaden Seymour scored 16 points at Wofford in his second game back from a leg injury Seymour is the fifth leading scorer in the SoCon (16.5) and also ranks third in blocked shots (31) and blocks per game (1.15), sixth in rebounds (179) and fourth in rebounds per game (6.6). Seymour is currently the 12th leading scorer in ETSU history with 1,358, trailing Harley Swift by nine points, Zakee Wadood by 24, and Lester Wilson by 30. His 725 career rebounds rank ninth in school history, and his 105 blocks rank sixth all-time at ETSU. Seymour is one of five Buccaneers with at least 1,000 career points, 700 career rebounds, and 100 career blocked shots, joining Isiah Brown, Greg Dennis, Jerald Fields, and Zakee Wadood.
-Seymour is one of 20 players in Division I men's basketball with a triple-double this season, and one of only 12 with a triple-double against a Division I opponent. He scored 18 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists in ETSU's 84-69 rout of VMI on January 1st.
-Karon Boyd continues to do good work on the glass. He is third in the SoCon in rebounds per game (7.4) and 44th in Division I in offensive rebounds per game (3.04). Boyd needs five offensive boards to become the second player at ETSU since 1986 to collect 90 or more offensive rebounds in multiple seasons, joining Dillion Sneed. Boyd had 95 offensive rebounds last year, the seventh-most in a season at ETSU since 1986, when offensive rebounds were first recorded as a standalone statistic.
-In addition to his rebounding work, Boyd is seventh in the SoCon in blocked shots (24) and blocks per game (0.86). Boyd had 17 blocks total in his first 63 games of college basketball: eight in 33 games at USC Aiken in 2022-23 and nine in 30 games at ETSU in 2023-24.
-As a team, ETSU ranks 34th nationally and second in the SoCon in offensive rebounds per game (13.10). The Bucs also rank 47th nationally in scoring defense (66.6), 63rd in rebounding margin (+4.3), 75th in steals per game (7.8), and 68th in turnover margin (+1.8).
-The Bucs have made at least one three-pointer in 1,188 straight games – the third-longest streak in the country. Only UNLV and Duke have longer active streaks.
-ETSU is 12-3 at home this season and 22-7 at Freedom Hall under Brooks Savage. The Bucs' 12 home wins are the most in a season since 2019-20, when ETSU went 16-1 at home.
 
ABOUT THE BEARS
-Mercer has lost seven of its last 10 games, splitting last week's games with a 62-52 win at The Citadel and a 78-61 loss to UNCG in Macon. If the season ended today, they would be the eighth seed in the SoCon Men's Basketball Championships.
-The Bears are third in the SoCon and 90th in the country in scoring offense (77.4), but ninth in the conference and 296th nationally in scoring defense (76.4).
-Mercer boasts the second and third-leading scorers by total points in the SoCon in Ahmad Robinson and Tyler Johnson. Robinson is fourth in the conference in points per game (16.6) and Johnson is sixth (16.2). Robinson is second in the SoCon and 38th in the country in assists (145) and second in the SoCon in assists per game (5.0).
-Alex Holt is the fifth-leading rebounder in the SoCon in both total rebounds (196) and rebounds per game (6.8).
 
SERIES HISTORY
-This is the 43rd meeting between ETSU and Mercer in men's basketball. ETSU leads the all-time series 29-13.
-The Bucs won 70-68 in Macon on January 8th. Peterson scored 25 points, Seymour 19 points and nine rebounds, and Gabe Sisk had nine points and a career-high 11 rebounds off the bench.
-Mercer has won three of the last five matchups in Freedom Hall, but ETSU won the most recent game in Johnson City 80-69 on January 3rd, 2024.
 
UP NEXT
The Bucs go on the road to The Citadel for the regular season finale on Saturday at 1 p.m.
 
For more information on ETSU men's basketball, go to ETSUBucs.com and click on the men's basketball tab.