Whisnant leads Pirates past UNCG

By Al Myatt
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GREENVILLE — East Carolina built an early lead and defeated UNC-Greensboro 71-50 in Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum on Sunday afternoon.

Terry Whisnant scored 14 of his 17 points in the first half as the Pirates led 45-26 at intermission.

ECU (7-6) scored the first seven points of the nonconference contest. The Pirates had a 29-13 run after the Spartans (4-9) had closed within 16-13 with 13 minutes left in the half.

ECU connected on 16 of 22 field goal attempts in the first 20 minutes, a blistering 72.7 percent.

"The first half was the best we've played all year," said Pirates coach Jeff Lebo. "No doubt about it. I really liked offensively how we shared the ball."

Whisnant had six assists and Antonio Robinson had five.

UNCG was limited to 35 percent field goal shooting for the game.

"We defended very well," Lebo said. "Our doubles on their inside guys were effective. We got them in foul problems in the second half and I didn't think we played near as well. When they cut the lead down to 14, we made some key plays and it went back up to 22. It was nice to be able to coast to a win."

Caleb White added 14 points for ECU.

Ten Pirate players saw 10 minutes or more of playing time.

Michel-Ofik Nzege had 12 points in 18 minutes, making six of seven from the floor. Nzege and Paris Roberts-Campbell each had five rebounds. Roberts-Campbell had four assists.

Diante Baldwin led UNCG with 19 points.

East Carolina hosts Tulane (9-3) at noon Wednesday in the Pirates' first American Athletic Conference game. ESPN News is scheduled to show the action.

PAGE UPDATED 12/29/14 03:31 PM.

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