ASHEVILLE, N.C. (Mar. 7, 2026) - Jordan McCullum scored 11 seconds into the game on an effortless slash to the basket, but the Bucs had to earn the rest.
The ETSU men's basketball team defeated The Citadel 83-76 in the first quarterfinal of the 2026 SoCon Men's Basketball Championship at Harrah's Cherokee Center in Asheville, North Carolina, on Saturday afternoon. Blake Barkley scored 24 points, two off his career high, to lead the charge that included a 47 point second half for the top-seeded Buccaneers (22-10).
The Bucs opened the game on an 8-0 run where McCullum's layup was followed by three pointers from Allen Strothers on a left-wing pull-up and Barkley on a drive-and-replace on the right wing, and ETSU led the Bulldogs (10-21) 10-4 at the under-16 timeout.
The Citadel fought back after the media stoppage, with Braxton Williams cutting the Bucs lead to 14-12 with 14 minutes to play in the first half before McCullum struck again curling behind Cam Morris III into the paint to lay in a Morris pass with two hands. They struggled to separate afterward, hitting just two of their next six shots, but the Bulldogs failed to capitalize, going 4:02 without a basket before Dante Kearse hit a tough layup from directly under the basket to trim ETSU's lead to 21-19 with 7:14 left in the opening session.
Keynan Davis cut the lead to one with two made free throws after being fouled on a three-point attempt, but Barkley answered with a left block layup off a counter move, and Jaylen Smith got the lead back to two possessions with a top of the key three with 5:22 left. The Citadel continued to fight and rallied for their first lead on a Williams three with 2:35 left in the half. Maki Johnson answered out of an ETSU timeout with a right-corner three, and Brian Taylor II got the Bucs back in front with a steal and a runout layup, his first made shot on seven attempts. Taylor scored two more quick baskets in the next 50 seconds to put ETSU ahead 36-32 at the half.
The Bucs grinded their way to the rim consistently to start the second half, with Barkley catching for a clean layup and McCullum sailing to the rim with two hands. Morris converted a three-point play on a tip-in basket, then Strothers zipped a pass into Barkley from the free throw line for an easy layup before a curl by McCullum in from the left wing turned into two points to give ETSU its largest lead at 47-38. Barkley attacked the inside of The Citadel's zone defense for a left block layup to give the Bucs their first double-digit lead at 49-38 with 14:37 remaining.
The Bulldogs cut the margin back to eight on back-to-back Keynan Davis threes, but Taylor answered with a three from the right side to keep the eight seed at arm's length, then added a layup two minutes later to keep the margin at 11. Jaylen Smith hit a pair of fadeaway jumpers at the top of the key, and Barkley hit threes on back-to-back trips to make the lead 71-56 with four minutes to go, putting the game out of reach despite a valiant comeback effort from The Citadel.
Barkley's 24 points mark his seventh 20+ point effort this season and first since Feburary 7 at VMI. He shot 10-for-11 from the field, a career-best 3-for-3 on three pointers and led the team with six rebounds. McCullum scored 13 while Smith and Taylor added 11 each, with Taylor hitting five of his last six field goals as well as leading the team with seven assists.
As a team, ETSU shot 56.4% from the field, tied for their fifth-highest field goal percentage in a game this season. They shot 67% from the field in the second half (16-for-24) and were 5-for-10 from three-point range in the second session. The Citadel won rebounding 30-29, and both teams turned the ball over nine times and ETSU scoring 12 points off nine turnovers by the Bulldogs.
ETSU now awaits the winner of the 4/5 matchup later Saturday night between Mercer and Western Carolina. The winner will play against the Buccaneers on Sunday in Asheville at 4:00pm.
For more information on ETSU men's basketball, go to ETSUBucs.com.
