JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (Nov. 2, 2018) – Sophomore forward Mladen Armus (Belgrade, Serbia) posted a double-double and junior guard Kevon Tucker (Dacula, Ga.) netted a game high 17 points as the ETSU men’s basketball team blew past Southern Wesleyan in an 85-38 exhibition victory Friday night at Freedom Hall.

The Buccaneers held the Warriors to just 6.7 percent shooting in the first half and a 19 percent clip for the game, racing to a 47-15 lead by halftime and ultimately taking home the 47-point victory. ETSU will now turn their attention to the regular season opener against defending Sun Belt Conference champion Georgia State on Tuesday, Nov. 6, at 7 p.m. inside the GSU Sports Arena in Atlanta.

“I thought we did a good job of sharing the basketball on offense, and we cut down on our defensive mistakes from our scrimmage against Austin-Peay last week,” said ETSU head coach Steve Forbes. “I thought Mladen did an incredible job rebounding the basketball. I didn’t think we shot the ball real well for a team that can, especially because we got a lot of open looks. We’ve got to clean that up a little bit. But overall, everyone got to play and we got a good look at what we have.”

The game was in little doubt from the beginning, as the Bucs scored the first 13 points of the game and Southern Wesleyan did not collect a field goal until a 3-point make with 9:39 left in the first half. In fact, the Warriors would have just one traditional two-point make in the first half, going 2-of-30 from the field on way to scoring just 15 points in the opening 20 minutes.

While Armus finished with 21 rebounds and 12 points, the Bucs also got double-figure scoring from junior forward Jeromy Rodriguez (Santiago, Dominican Republic) with 16 and junior guard Tray Boyd III (Memphis) with 13. Meanwhile, Tucker also added five assists to go with his 17 points.

As a team, the Bucs dished out 20 assists to just 12 turnovers, shooting 45 percent from the floor, 32 percent from 3-point range, and 67 percent from the free throw line. ETSU also out-rebounded the Warriors a eye-popping 60-27.

For the Warriors, Jalen Lowery posted a team best 10 points on the night.

A crowd of 3,391 were on hand to see the Bucs make their 2018-19 debut.

For more on ETSU men’s basketball throughout the 2018-19 season, visit ETSUBucs.com and click on the men’s hoops link.