JOHNSON CITY, TN— Micheal Anumba's game-tying three-point attempt with seconds remaining went halfway down and out as Winthrop fell 61-58 at East Tennessee State in a hard fought game at Freedom Hall Thursday night.
WINTHROP (2-2, 0-0 BIG SOUTH)
SCORING LEADERS
EAST TENNESSEE STATE (3-0, 0-0 SOUTHERN)
SCORING LEADERS
- Bo Hodges (17 points, 9 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 blocks, 1 steal)
- Tray Boyd III (13 points, 1 rebound, 1 assist, 1 steal)
- Isaiah Tisdale (9 points, 3 rebounds, 1 block, 3 steals)
FIRST HALF
- Both teams shot 37 percent from the floor but the difference at the break were second chance points and the free throw line as ETSU led 32-25 at the break
- Both teams made their first shots of the game but it took nearly three and a half minutes until the next bucket
- Micheal Anumba scored inside to tie the game at 11-11 with 12:49 to play but ETSU opened up a lead with an 8-0 run powered by threes from Isaiah Tisdale and Bo Hodges
- A baseline jumper from D.J. Burns Jr. stopped the run temporarily but another three put the Bucs on top by nine points (22-13)
- The remainder of the half the Bucs maintained at least a two possession lead as the Eagles worked to keep it close at the half
- The Eagles began the game 3-of-15 from the floor, but only trailed by two after the third field goal was a three-pointer from Russell Jones Jr.
- One of the keys for the ETSU offense in the first half were the 10 turnovers by the Eagles that led to 13 points
SECOND HALF
- Back-to-back threes from Chandler Vaudrin and Josh Corbin cut the halftime deficit to one point at 34-33
- ETSU pushed the lead back to seven points with 9:18 to play as Tisdale knocked down a floater
- Trailing 50-43 with just over seven minutes to play, Burn's Jr. assisted on three straight field goals as the Eagles made it a two point contest with 6:18 left with the third bucket forcing a timeout by ETSU
- Out of the timeout, Tisdale drove the lane and scored while being fouled as he completed the three-point play for a 53-48 lead with 6:04 remaining
- The Eagles continued to try and chip away at the ETSU lead but the Bucs seemed to respond each time
- Consecutive baskets from Burns Jr. made it a two-point contest with under three to play
- A free throw by Daivien Williamons pushed the lead to three and then a stick back by Anumba made it a one point game with 2:14 to play
- ETSU led 58-55 with 1:51 left and a three-point attempt from Charles Falden didn't fall, but Jones Jr. came up with a steal as he found Josh Ferguson on the right wing and he buried a three to tie the game with 53 seconds to play
- The Bucs took the lead 61-58 with 30.4 left on a three from Boyd right in front of the ETSU bench
- On the final possession for the Eagle Jones Jr. came up short on a floater from the baseline
- Burns Jr. boarded the miss, kicked the ball out to an open Anumba for three but his shot was in and out and the clock expired
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Winthrop finished the game shooting 46 percent from the floor while ETSU finished at 42 percent
- Eagles had 18 turnovers in the game leading to 17 points for ETSU while the Eagles scored five points off 11 turnovers
- Winthrop won the battle on the boards 35-30 led by Anumba's nine rebounds
- At the free throw line the Eagles were just 3-of-9 (33%) while ETSU was just 12-of-23 (52%)
- Vaudrin had nine points and five assists off the bench for the Eagles who had 32 bench points
- Eagles hit 58 percent from the field in the second half (4-of-8 from three) while ETSU shot 48 percent
NOTABLES
- This was the third game this season that came down to the final possession
- It was the second straight game the Eagles played a team ranked in the Top 5 of the CollegeInsider.com Top 25 Mid-Major Poll
- Saint Mary's was ranked 2nd and ETSU is 3rd in the mid-major poll
- Trailing 44-39, the Eagles went on to connect on seven straight field goals and 9-of-13 to finished the game
- Ferguson is working his way toward 600 career rebounds (541) and is approaching 800 career points (772)
UP NEXT
After four straight road games to open the season the Eagles finally play at the Winthrop Coliseum as they'll host Mid-Atlantic Christian on Saturday, Nov. 16 at 4 p.m. for "Homecoming".
