LEXINGTON, Va. (Feb. 5, 2025) – It wasn't easy, but the Buccaneers found a way to win.
Led by a double-double from
Jaden Seymour and a career-high 20-rebound performance by
Karon Boyd, the ETSU men's basketball team secured a key 62-55 road win at VMI Wednesday night inside Cameron Hall.
Playing a Keydet club that had won back-to-back games and five of their last six, the Blue & Gold saw their 12-point second-half lead cut to one with just over two minutes left to play. However, like he did at Samford,
Maki Johnson knocked down a clutch corner three, while
Quimari Peterson drove through the lane for a lay-up sparking a late Buccaneer run to hold on for the win. Seymour connected on four straight free throws in the closing seconds to ice the game.
Seymour finished with 18 points and 10 rebounds for his sixth double-double of the season. To go with the 20 boards, Boyd finished with eight points and two blocks. Boyd became the first Buccaneer to have a 20-rebound game since Mike Smith had a 20-point, 20-rebound game against Florida Gulf Coast back on Jan. 8, 2011.
John Buggs III added 12 points and six rebounds, while
Maki Johnson – who made his third career start – had 11 points, three assists and three steals.
ETSU's defense was stellar on Wednesday as they held VMI to 29 percent shooting (20-68) and 25 percent (8-32) from beyond the arc. The Bucs outscored the Keydets in the paint by 12, 32-20, while ETSU was plus-three in points off turnovers, 11-8.
With the win, ETSU secured the series sweep over the Keydets as the Bucs improved to 14-10 overall and 7-4 in league play. The Bucs now lead the all-time series, 61-15, while winning seven straight and 30 of the last 32. VMI dropped to 11-13, 5-6.
ETSU started strong with the help of balanced scoring as the Bucs opened an eight-point lead when Boyd had a second-chance tip-in, putting the Blue & Gold up 12-4 at the 15:02 mark. All five Buccaneer starters accounted for the first 12 points, while
Gabe Sisk came off the bench and became the sixth player to score, which gave ETSU a 22-12 advantage with just under eight minutes remaining in the half. The Bucs eventually built a 13-point lead, 25-12, when Buggs sank one of his two made threes and ETSU carried momentum into the locker room up, 39-26.
Boyd had nine of his 20 rebounds in the opening 20 minutes, while Buggs paced the Bucs with 10 points on 4-of-6 shooting.
Both teams went cold in the second half, but the 13-point halftime advantage was just enough to hold up for the Blue & Gold.
Despite being held to 23 points in the final 20 minutes, ETSU fought off a VMI comeback to set up a critical home game on Saturday against league-leading Samford.
VMI chipped away at its deficit and pulled within four eight minutes into the second half, but the Bucs answered with an 8-0 run to push the lead back into double figures when Johnson hit a jumper, making it 49-37 with 8:40 remaining.
Over the next six minutes, VMI outscored ETSU 15-4 to close the gap to one, 53-52 after a pair of free throws by Rickey Bradley Jr. with 2:19 showing on the clock.
The Bucs weren't going to back down and made big plays late to finish off the road win. On ETSU's next trip down the floor, Peterson found Johnson open for the corner three to ignite a 7-0 run that extended the Bucs' lead back to eight, 60-52, following the two free throws by Seymour with 35 seconds remaining. VMI hit a three late to get it to five, but Seymour again was automatic at the line and ETSU walked away with the seven-point victory – its third straight over the Keydets in Lexington.
ETSU held VMI to 25 percent shooting from the field (10-40) and from three-point range (6-24) in the second half. Seymour accounted for 10 of the Bucs' 23 points in the second half, including all four of ETSU's makes at the free throw line.
TJ Johnson led VMI with 15 points in the losing effort, while Augustinas Kiudulas posted 11 points and 11 rebounds.
The Bucs now host defending conference champion Samford on Saturday at 4 p.m. inside Freedom Hall. For tickets, please call 423-439-3878 or visit
ETSUTickets.com.
For more information on ETSU men's basketball, go to ETSUBucs.com and click on the men's basketball tab.
