Richmond hits parting shots

By Al Myatt
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Lebo, Richmond & Robinson post-game audio...

GREENVILLE — There was still some fuel left in Akeem Richmond's tank for his Senior Night in Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum.

Richmond drained eight 3-pointers and scored 27 points to lead East Carolina to a 75-68 Conference USA win over Charlotte on Thursday night.

Fellow senior Petar Torlak also started for the Pirates as they completed a 3-0 homestand and improved to 16-13 overall with a 5-9 league mark.

The pattern of the game was similar to a 67-55 win over Rice on Saturday as ECU built a sizeable early lead and then held off a challenge by the visitors.

Richmond scored the first points of the game with a three and the Pirates jumped out to a 21-2 lead. The 49ers pulled within 32-24 at the half and forged ties at 50, 52 and 54.

A three by Richmond put ECU ahead to stay at 57-54 with 6:48 to go.

After the 49ers had cut the lead to 61-60 with 4:13 remaining, Richmond hit a three from the right corner to start a crucial 7-0 Pirates run. Prince Williams and Richmond each hit a pair of free throws to give ECU a 68-60 lead with 2:53 in the game.

Charlotte (14-13, 5-9) got no closer than five points the rest of the way.

Antonio Robinson made five of six free throws in the last 41 seconds and finished with 15 points. Freshman Caleb White had 14 points. Prince Williams had seven points and five assists. Michael Zangari had six points, five rebounds and two steals. Paris Roberts-Campbell contributed four points, five rebounds and four assists.

Robinson also had a team-high six rebounds, three assists and two steals.

Richmond made eight of his 14 3-point attempts and three of four free throws. He also garnered five rebounds and three steals.

The Pirates made 12 of 27 from beyond the arc for 44.4 percent and 21 of 28 free throws for 75 percent.

Pierria Henry had 20 points in the losing effort. Terrence Williams and Denzel Ingram scored 11 each for the 49ers, who dropped their sixth straight game.

The contest was televised nationally on Fox Sports 1.

The Pirates visit Marshall for a 2 p.m. tipoff on Sunday. The Thundering Herd (9-20, 3-11) is coming off of a 70-63 loss at Old Dominion on Thursday night.

PAGE UPDATED 02/28/14 01:02 AM.

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