Roster | Schedule/Results | News | Archives

March 1, 2008

Box Score

Spartanburg, S.C. - Jacolby Davis scored seven points in overtime for East Tennessee State and the Buccaneers held off USC Upstate down the stretch in the extra period to take an 86-80 victory over the Spartans Saturday evening in Atlantic Sun Conference men's basketball action in the Hodge Center.

ETSU improved to 18-12 overall and 11-5 in the A-Sun. Upstate ends its first season in NCAA Division I and the A-Sun with a 7-23 overall record and a 5-11 mark in the conference.

Upstate used the surge of emotion on Senior Day as Luke Payne and Jeremy Byrd were honored in a pregame ceremony. When the game started, the Spartans stormed out to an eight point lead, 17-9, with 10:26 to play. Behind the strong play of Payne and Byrd, Upstate stretched the lead to double figures, 22-11, with 9:31 to play. Payne and Byrd were virtually unstoppable. Payne finished the first half with 12 points and Byrd added nine before halftime.

Payne's three-pointer with 28-16 to play in the half gave Upstate a 12 point lead and Byrd's layup gave the Spartans a 14 point advantage with just under seven minutes to play. After ETSU cut the lead to eight, Upstate went on a 10-0 run with four different players scoring to open an 18 point lead, 43-25, with 2:06 to play.

ETSU, though, battled the rest of the half, closing the final 2:06 with a 9-0 run to cut the deficit to 43-34 at the intermission. The end of the half run would set the tone for the second half.

ETSU methodically whittled the deficit lower and lower in the second half until Courtney Pigram made a three-pointer and a layup and Kenyona Swader made a jumper to give ETSU its first lead since opening the game with a field goal. Swader's jumper gave the Buccaneers a 54-53 lead with 9:49 to play in the game.

Upstate, though, quickly regained the lead on Gabor Boros' three-pointer and stretched the lead to seven points with 6:51 to play. ETSU stayed in the game and again worked to cut into the deficit. The Buccaneers got four points each from Swader and Pigram in an 8-1 run that tied the game at 65-65 with 3:40 to play.

Luke Payne finished his career with 1,381 points.

Payne converted 1-of-2 from the free throw line to give Upstate the lead back at 66-65, but Mike Smith's layup provided ETSU a one point lead with 2:44 to play. The teams traded points back and forth until Bobby Davis sank a pair of free throws with 27 seconds to play to give Upstate a 71-69 lead. Travis Strong nailed a jumper to tie the game with 17 seconds to play and send it into overtime. Upstate could not get a shot off at the end of regulation.

In overtime, ETSU used an 8-1 spurt to open the extra period and took a 79-72 lead with 2:18 to play in the game. Upstate, and Payne, would not go down without a fight. Payne knocked down back-to-back three-pointers to help the Spartan cause, but each bucket was answered by either a jumper or free throws by ETSU. Byrd converted a layup to cut the Buccaneer lead to three points with 23 seconds to play, but Smith converted a free throw and Strong made a layup in the last few seconds to take the six point win for ETSU.

"All losses hurt, but this was a special night and that's why this one hurts more," said Byrd, who closed out his career as Upstate's all-time steals leader with 350 steals and 986 points. "It was emotional and it was good that we were able to push it into overtime, but this hurts."

Payne led all scorers with 24 points, finishing his career as the school's ninth leading scorer all-time with a 1,381 points. Byrd finished with 13 points and four steals, while Bobby Davis added 12 points, nine rebounds and four assists. Boros added 10 points off the bench for the Spartans.

Pigram led ETSU with 22 points and four assists. Strong added 16 points, while Swader tallied 15 points and five rebounds.