JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. — East Tennessee State University defeated Tusculum University 82-54 in men’s basketball action Wednesday night at Freedom Hall. The contest was an exhibition game for the Pioneers, while the Buccaneers improved to 2-1 with the victory.
ETSU used runs of 15-0 and 14-0 in the first half to build a 50-19 lead at intermission. Tusculum outscored ETSU 35-32 in the second half, forcing the Bucs into 15 of their 18 turnovers after intermission.
Akeem Odusipe and Jason Britton shared the team lead in scoring for the Pioneers with 10 points apiece, with J3 Swindell adding nine points and a team-high five rebounds. The Pioneers shot 32.3 percent (21-for-65) from the field in the game but were outrebounded by a slim 38-34 margin.
Five players reached double figures for the Buccaneers, led by 12 points from Maki Johnson and 11 apiece from Karon Boyd and Gabe Sisk. ETSU shot 55.2 percent (32-for-58) from the field and went 11-for-21 from beyond the arc in the contest.
Bryce Jackson, Ryan Neal and Taj Kimber each had seven points for the Pioneers, who led twice briefly in the first four minutes before the Buccaneers ran off 15 straight points to go up 25-8 after eight minutes.
After trailing by as many as 34 points early in the second half, the Pioneers went on a pair of 9-0 runs as part of an 18-2 surge that cut the ETSU lead to 63-45 with 7:45 to play. Tusculum trailed 69-50 with 5:43 left after a jumper by Neal, but ETSU closed the game by scoring 13 of the final 17 points.
The Pioneers will travel to Lander on Friday, Nov. 15 at 6 p.m. in their final non-conference game of the season before opening South Atlantic Conference play on Wednesday, Nov. 20 at Carson-Newman.
