ASHEVILLE, N.C. (Mar. 8, 2026) – In a crowded and raucous Harrah’s Cherokee Center, ETSU had a few more fans in the stands than Western Carolina. They didn’t have many more, but they had enough.
It turned out to be a perfect mirror of the game on the court.
The ETSU men’s basketball team rallied from a 14-point halftime deficit to defeat Western Carolina 69-67 in stunning fashion to advance to the 2026 SoCon Men’s Basketball Championship final. Blake Barkley went on a personal 11-2 run to give the Buccaneers (23-10) the lead, and Brian Taylor II scored 22 points to send ETSU to their second SoCon tournament title game in three seasons.
Down 14 at halftime against the sixth-seeded Catamounts (15-16), ETSU was forced to chip away at the advantage. A Jaylen Smith three followed by a pair of free throws after getting fouled in transition got the deficit to 48-40 with 15:47 remaining before it swelled back to 13 points. They continued to grind points off the WCU lead, and Smith had a defensive rebound tipped out to him to start a fast break where Taylor hit a three to cut it to four at 59-55 with 6:47 to go.
Then Barkley started his run.
He converted two free throws, hit a layup with 1:32 left, and cashed in on a third-chance opportunity to get it down to two with 1:02 to play. He converted a three-point play that gave ETSU the lead 23 seconds later. The Bucs got a stop on defense, and Taylor hit the second of two free throws to give the Bucs their largest lead on the final scoring play. They got another stop, and a Marcus Kell heave falling out of bounds struck the side of the rim to keep WCU from scoring from the field for the final 8:50 of the game and claim an iconic win.
Taylor’s 22 was complemented by Barkley’s 19 points, 13 from Smith, and 11 from McCullum. Barkley led the team in rebounds for the second consecutive game with eight, while Smith and Cam Morris III had three assists apiece. McCullum blocked two shots, and Allen Strothers led the team with three steals in seven minutes of floor time. The Bucs shot 47% from the field, 35% from three with eight makes, and 62% on free throws. They shot 62% (15-for-24) on field goals in the second half. They lost rebounding 37-29 but outscored WCU 12-9 on second-chance opportunities. The Bucs won points in the paint 28-22, and the Bucs’ bench outscored the Catamounts’ by a 16-10 margin.
ETSU will play Furman in the Southern Conference Championship game at 7pm today at Harrah’s Cherokee Center.
