Barkley's putback gives ETSU victory at Samford

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — No need for ETSU to take a timeout with Blake Barkley on the spot. Barkley, who missed only one field goal attempt Saturday afternoon, cleaned up a miss with 1.1 seconds on the block and allowed the Buccaneers to escape the Pete Hanna Center victorious, 76-75 over Samford. Keaton Norris' layup with 20 seconds left ended a nearly four-minute field goal drought for Samford and cut ETSU's lead to 74-72. And it looked like the Bulldogs might win a stunner after Jadin Booth came up with a steal and set up Norris for the go-ahead 3-pointer, putting the Bulldogs up 75-74. But the Buccaneers (13-6, 5-1 SoCon) responded immediately with Jaylen Smith sprinting the length of the court. He fired up a contested layup and missed, but Barkley was trailing on the play and tipped it in. And Samford (9-10, 2-4) couldn't connect on its desperation 3 with no timeouts. It took eight attempts for Barkley to finally miss a shot. He finished 9-of-10 from the field and made all eight free throws, finishing with a double-double of 26 points and 11 rebounds. Barkley's finger roll layup with 26.8 seconds left gave ETSU a 74-70 lead. The Bulldogs took their second lead of the game with 12:49 to play, when Cade Norris buried back-to-back 3-pointers for a 50-48 edge. Cam Morris III answered with an and-one just 17 seconds later, and ETSU never trailed again. Kam Martin pulled Samford even at 63 on his 3-pointer with 6:30 remaining. But Allen Strothers' pull-up jumper at the 5:59 mark put the Buccaneers ahead to stay until the final seconds. Brian Taylor II scored 13 points for ETSU, while Strothers (3 assists) and Morris III joined him double figures with 11 and 10 respectively. Smith shot 2-of-4 from 3-point range and scored eight. Smith, Taylor II and Isaiah Sutherland all hit from 3-point range in the first eight minutes to give ETSU an 18-6 lead. Samford closed the gap to four on a jumper by Booth. But the Buccaneers got a 3-pointer from Maki Johnson with 14 seconds in the first half for a 38-31 advantage at the break. Booth, who made 5-of-11 from 3, led Samford with 19 points. Cade Norris (16), Keaton Norris (14) and Dylan Faulkner (12) joined him in double figures. Faulkner also grabbed a team-high seven boards, and Keaton Norris totaled six assists. ETSU, the second-best free throw shooting team in the SoCon, made 16-of-17 from the charity stripe. UP NEXT ETSU travels to arch-rival Chattanooga on Wednesday for a 7 p.m. tip.