Pirates break home losing streak

By Al Myatt
©2013 Bonesville.net
All rights reserved.

Audio: Coaches & players post-game...

GREENVILLE — East Carolina's last home basketball win was last year, Dec. 19 to be exact, against VMI, but the Pirates broke a five-game losing streak within Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum on Saturday with an 81-71 Conference USA win over Texas-San Antonio.

Akeem Richmond had 31 points as ECU improved to 13-11 overall and 2-7 in league play. The senior guard from Sanford made all 15 of his free throws to set a school record for the most foul shots in a game without a miss.

The previous record of 13 by Earl Thompson against Atlantic Christian had stood since Dec. 9, 1967.

Richmond's remarkable effort at the line matched the ECU men's Williams Arena mark of 15 made free throws set by Jontae Sherrod against Texas-El Paso on Feb. 23, 2011.

A jumper by Caleb White, who had 18 points on seven of 11 field goal shooting, put the Pirates ahead to stay at 17-15 with 6:25 left in the first half and started ECU on an 11-1 run. Brandan Stith scored on an assist from Prince Williams during the flurry, Richmond dropped a three off a feed from White, Williams assisted Stith again, and White registered on another jumper to give the Pirates a 26-16 advantage with 4:38 left in the first half.

ECU led 33-25 at intermission. Richmond scored 23 points in the second half.

The biggest lead for the Pirates was 20 points, at 58-38 after Stith scored on an assist by Paris Roberts-Campbell with 10:35 left in the game. The Roadrunners (7-15, 3-6 C-USA) closed within five points at 67-62 with 2:41 to go but ECU put the game away by making all 14 of its free throws over the last 2:21.

Mike Zangari had 11 points and nine rebounds for the Pirates. Williams had 10 points and five assists. Stith had seven points in 16 minutes.

Keon Lewis led UTSA with 16 points before fouling out. Jordan Sims had 14 points in the loss. Hyjii Thomas and Phillip Jones added 11 and 10 respectively for the visitors. Edrico McGregor had eight points and six assists for the first-year C-USA program.

"We haven't won at home in a while, so it was nice to get that," said ECU coach Jeff Lebo. "Akeem and Caleb were terrific offensively."

The Pirates have road games next week at Tulsa (Thursday, 8:05 p.m.) and North Texas (Saturday, 8 p.m.). ECU swaps opponents on those dates with travel partner Old Dominion, which was defeated by league-leading Texas-El Paso 63-49 on Saturday night in Norfolk.

PAGE UPDATED 02/09/14 07:25 AM.

Copyright © Bonesville.net. All rights rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in any fashion. Information from Bonesville staff members, East Carolina University, Conference USA and other sources was used in composing and/or compiling the articles and data on this site. This site is editorially independent and is not affiliated with East Carolina University or Conference USA. View Bonesville.net's privacy policy. For advertising or other information, e-mail editor@bonesville.net.