Memphis holds off ECU rally
By
Al Myatt
©2015 Bonesville.net
All rights reserved.
MEMPHIS — East Carolina fell behind
24-9 in its American Athletic Conference contest at Memphis on Wednesday
night and absorbed a 70-58 loss after pulling within 62-58 with 3:50
remaining.
The Pirates were 13 for 27 behind the
3-point arc (48.1 percent) in falling to 8-12 overall and 1-6 in league
play.
"I thought there were two ways East
Carolina could beat us," said Memphis coach Josh Pastner. "One, if they
hit a lot of threes, which they did, and, two, if we turn it over a lot
like we've done in the last few games. They shot 48 percent from three,
but we only had six turnovers. We were sixth in the country in 3-point
defense coming into this game. That will drop a little bit after
tonight."
ECU committed 13 turnovers to six for
the Tigers (13-7, 6-3) as the hosts extended their defense.
"We did pretty good against the
press," said Pirates coach Jeff Lebo. "We had a couple of turnovers
against it, and we had to change our press offense a little bit. We had
to put our guards back there, which keep you from getting the ball out
really quick. It keeps your better ball handlers handling it for the
most part. Our transition offense, I thought was pretty good in the
second half. We got some transition threes. We pushed it, and they had a
hard time getting back to our shooters."
After trailing 39-24 at the half, ECU
began the second half on a 16-6 run.
"They had to go a little bit
smaller," Lebo said. "We maybe forced them to play a little bit smaller
because we were small. We were shooting it pretty well, but they are a
talented team. They are young, trying to replace four senior guards from
last year. That's hard to do."
Austin Nichols led the hosts with 21
points as he made nine of 14 field goal attempts.
"I think Nichols is probably one of
their most improved guys," Lebo said. "I saw him last year a little bit,
but they are playing through him right now. Everything is trying to get
the ball to him, and when he gets it, something good is going to
happen."
Terry Whisnant paced the Pirates with
17 points as he made five of seven from long range. Caleb White had 10
points and Paris Roberts-Campbell scored eight. Lance Tejada tallied six
points. Marshall Guilmette added four.
Memphis led 28-24 on the boards.
ECU's top rebounder, Michel-Ofik Nzege, went out in the first half with
a head injury after playing 14 minutes.
Nichols and Nick King scored four
points apiece in a closing 8-0 run for the Tigers.
King and Trahson Burrell totaled 11
points each as Memphis shot 53.8 percent.
The Pirates host Cincinnati on Sunday
at 1 p.m. That game will be shown on the CBS Sports Network. The
Bearcats
defeated ECU 69-48 in Cincinnati on Jan. 6.
The Bearcats are 14-5 on the season and 5-2 in the AAC going into a home
game with Connecticut tonight.
PAGE UPDATED
01/29/15 10:06 PM.
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