Pirates pull away from UCF
By
Al Myatt
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All rights reserved.
GREENVILLE — East Carolina used an
active zone defense and a solid effort from sophomore forward Caleb
White in a 67-49 American Athletic Conference win over Central Florida
in Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum on Saturday evening.
White scored 21 points and controlled
a career-high nine rebounds as the Pirates improved to 10-13 overall and
3-7 in the AAC.
Terry Whisnant was back after an
injury to his torso on Wednesday night at Connecticut to add 11 points
for ECU. Coming off the bench with 10 points each were Michael Zangari
and freshman B.J. Tyson.
A 12-2 run helped the Pirates to a
31-22 lead at the half. An 8-0 flurry pushed ECU's lead to 54-38 after
intermission.
A 3-pointer by White with 2:20 to go
gave the Pirates a 20-point lead in their second straight home win.
"I thought it was a pretty solid
game," said ECU coach Jeff Lebo. "I was worried about this game because
of the emotions of
the Cincinnati game on Sunday
and
the game at Connecticut. I
thought we came out a little flat. [UCF] had a week off, and luckily
they came out a little flat, too.
"I thought we got going in the last
10 minutes (of the first half). I thought our defense during the whole
game was terrific. Their two best shooters didn't make a three in the
game. (Our guys) were active in the zone and we got some turnovers.
Eleven steals for us is a lot, and that triggered some fast break
opportunities. We scored some in the paint this game, 44 points. I
thought we took the ball hard to the rim. Caleb (White) was strong to
the basket, and I thought Mike Zangari had his best game in a long time.
"I thought we got solid play from
everyone. B.J. didn't really have a good first half with foul trouble,
but Terry (Whisnant) made some key 3-point shots for us and Lance (Tejada)
made a big play in the first half. We took care of the ball, with 16
assists and 10 turnovers. All around, a good team win for us."
Antonio Robinson had four points, six
rebounds, four assists and four steals playing the top of ECU's zone.
Paris Roberts-Campbell had four assists.
Staphon Blair led the Knights (9-13,
2-9) with 12 points. B.J. Taylor and Brandon Goodwin added 10 points
each for UCF.
The Pirates host Memphis at 7 p.m.
Tuesday (ESPNU). The Tigers
won 70-58 at home over ECU on Jan. 28,
scoring the last eight points of the game. A 61-60 home loss to Temple
on Saturday dropped Memphis to 14-9 overall and 6-4 in the AAC.
PAGE UPDATED
02/08/15 03:01 PM.
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