UTC's Chuck Ester (0) drives up the court against Northern Kentucky's defenders during a 93-81 UTC victory against Northern Kentucky on Monday at McKenzie Arena.The growth and success have been evident in the games of University of Tennessee at Chattanooga forwards Chuck Ester and Duke Ethridge during the team’s recent three-game winning streak.
Tuesday night was no different.
With senior Lance Stokes remaining steady in his production throughout the season, and without senior Martynas Bareika for the first nine games of the year, it was imperative for the duo to contribute. In the last three games, Ester and Ethridge have combined to average 16 points and nine rebounds per game. Their production, along with the return of Bareika to the rotation, have been crucial to recent run.
Because sophomore center Justin Tuoyo battled foul trouble, Ethridge played 17 minutes Tuesday — a season high for him against Division-I competition.
“Those guys were good,” Wade said after the 12-point win over Northern Kentucky said. “Marty’s been great since he’s been back; Duke is like a new person in practice, and Chuck has been working hard.”
At one point during the season, both players’ minutes had been limited to the point where Wade chose to start Casey Jones at the 4 position to go with a smaller lineup. It worked fine early, but that lineup was exposed in the team’s 31-point loss to a physically-imposing Georgia team, and gave Wade a chance to re-emphasize the importance of the two.
UTC's Duke Ethridge gets ready to take a shot as Hiwassee College's Jacob Elliot guards Friday at McKenzie Arena.And it looks as though they’ve listened, and their teammates have noticed.
“Everyone contributed,” Tuoyo said after the Citadel win. “Duke and Chuck came in there and did everything asked of them.”
In their two most recent games against Division-I competition, Ester and Ethridge combined for 10 points and eight rebounds against the Citadel and 13 points and four rebounds against Northern Kentucky. They’ll need similar production Friday when the Mocs travel to Murfreesboro to take on Middle Tennessee State University. The Blue Raiders, who are 5-5 after a 24-point loss at Oklahoma State on Tuesday, are led in production from former Baylor School standout Reggie Upshaw and Jacquez Rozier, both 6-foot-7 forwards
Against MTSU Wade will need a solid game from his entire front line, and he knows Ester and Ethridge will be a big part of that.
“Everybody knows I’ve been begging for Duke and Chuck to give us something,” Wade said after the Citadel win. “We’ve been looking for numbers from them. If we could get good production from them every night, we’d be in business.”
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him at twitter.com/genehenleytfp.