JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (Nov. 4, 2025) – The ETSU men’s basketball team started its season with an emphatic 102-50 win over the Converse Valkyries on Tuesday at Freedom Hall.
The Buccaneers (1-0) took the lead 36 seconds into the game on a layup by Brian Taylor II and never looked back, collecting their first 50+ point win since they routed Tusculum 105-43 on December 15, 2023, also the last time they scored 100 or more points. They started the game on an 18-4 run capped by a pair of threes by Milton Matthews III. They went on another 17-2 run over 3:07 of game time that featured multiple buckets from Taylor and Blake Barkley, with a Barkley fast break dunk putting an exclamation point on the run with 8:30 left in the first half. ETSU continued to pull away and led by 33 at the break while dominating the glass, collecting 12 offensive rebounds and scoring 20 second chance points in the first half alone.
Jordan McCullum led ETSU with 18 points, while Matthews had 14 including four made threes. Taylor had 13, Brayden Crump had 12, and Barkley had 11. Isaiah Sutherland led ETSU with seven rebounds, and Allen Strothers paced the team with five assists. As a team, ETSU won the turnover margin 22-8 with 32 points off turnovers to just nine for the Valkyries.
ETSU plays just three of its first 10 games on the road, but the first one is Saturday at Presbyterian at 6:00pm.
For more information on ETSU men’s basketball, go to ETSUBucs.com.
