Hawaii edges East Carolina

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

ESTERO, FL — East Carolina overcame an 11-point second half deficit to lead Hawaii with 8:18 left in the fifth-place game in the Gulf Coast Showcase on Wednesday before the Rainbow Warriors responded with a 14-3 run en route to a 75-73 win over the Pirates.

ECU finished 1-2 in the event and fell to 3-3 on the season as Hawaii's Roderick Bobbitt made three free throws in the final 13 seconds.

Garrett Nevels led Hawaii (6-2) with 19 points, Aaron Valdes tallied 15, Negus Webster-Chan had 11 and Bobbitt finished with 10.

The Pirates were led by freshman B.J. Tyson with a career-high 24 points. Sophomore Caleb White scored 18 in the setback and junior transfer Terry Whisnant added 13.

Nevels and Valdes each had nine rebounds to help the Rainbows to a 41-29 advantage on the boards. Hawaii scored 15 points off 16 offensive rebounds.

The Pirates countered by making 10 of 22 attempts from beyond the 3-point arc.

Hawaii closed the first half with an 8-0 run to lead 36-28 at the break.

"Our guys battled hard," said ECU coach Jeff Lebo. "After being down at halftime, we showed some fire in the second half. We rebounded better. We defended better and finally got out in transition and got some baskets. We just beat ourselves with two lackadaisical turnovers that were home run turnovers. The kids feel bad about them, but you can't have those kinds of things and expect to win."

The Pirates return to Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum to host Central Connecticut (0-5) at 2 p.m. Sunday.

PAGE UPDATED 11/27/14 04:48 AM.

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