Ziggy perfect in Pirates win

By Al Myatt
©2014 Bonesville.net
All rights reserved.

GREENVILLE — Michel-Ofik "Ziggy" Nzege made all nine of his field goal attempts to score 18 points and lead host East Carolina to a 74-59 win over Central Connecticut State on Sunday afternoon.

A crowd of 3,705 in Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum saw the Pirates improve to 4-3 as freshmen guards Lance Tejada and B.J. Tyson scored 14 points each.

"Our freshmen really played well," said ECU coach Jeff Lebo. "It was nice to see Lance Tejada go 4 of 6 from 3, grab five rebounds, hand out two assists with no turnovers. He's been pressing a little bit it, so it was great to see him put some balls in the basket.

"Michel was terrific tonight, scoring the ball with his back to the basket. They didn't have a big shot blocker in there, but I thought that he was very effective. Twenty assists on 31 made baskets, that's a nice number to see and we outrebounded them."

ECU led 29-24 on the boards as Tyson controlled a team-high six caroms.

"That's been our big thing," Lebo said. "We've won four games when we outrebounded our opponent and lost three when they outrebounded us. That's going to be a challenge all year, no doubt about that. Nice to see our two freshmen guards lead us in rebounding."

The Pirates used a 14-0 run to lead 38-27 with 6:24 remaining in the opening half.

After Tyson dunked on an assist by Antonio Robinson with 4:53 left in the half for a 40-29 ECU advantage, the margin stayed in double figures the rest of the way.

Robinson and Tyson each had four assists.

The Pirates' biggest lead came with 2:58 to go when Tyson scored on a layup to put ECU ahead, 72-51.

Nzege was motivated by ECU's 1-2 showing in the Gulf Coast Showcase, which concluded with a 75-73 loss to Hawaii on Wednesday.

"I was in a drought when I went to Florida, and I felt like I didn't bring my usual energy to the team in practice or in a game," said the junior transfer from Winston-Salem State. "Tonight I definitely felt like I had to come out aggressive and with a lot of energy."

Khalen Cumberlander led the Blue Devils — who are 0-6 with every loss on the road — with 19 points and five assists. Brandon Peel had 18 points for the visitors.

The Pirates return to the Sunshine State to face Florida Atlantic at 7 p.m. Wednesday.

PAGE UPDATED 12/01/14 03:23 AM.

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