East Carolina had dropped 23 straight
league road games and the chances of breaking that streak didn't appear
likely when the Pirates trailed host Rice 33-25 with 3:36 left in the
first half on Wednesday night.
But ECU came back and went ahead to
stay when Sam Hinnant hit a three-pointer with 12:53 remaining that
launched the Pirates on their way to a 75-68 Conference USA win in
Houston.
Gabe Blair, who had 19 points and 13
rebounds, assisted Hinnant on the go-ahead hoop, which put the Pirates
ahead 47-45. The play was part of a 15-2 run in which Pirates freshman
guard Brock Young scored seven of his nine points.
Hinnant and Cory Farmer had 12 points
each for ECU.
Owls senior forward Patrick Britton
finished with a career high 40 points as his club slipped to 3-25
overall and 0-15 in league play. Britton made 14 of 18 field goal
attempts and converted 12 of 15 from the free throw line.
Injuries have plagued Rice, which has
lost two players that were leading the team in scoring. Paulius
Packevicius went out in late January with a knee injury after averaging
11.1 points and 9.8 rebounds. Junior guard Rodney Foster, who was
averaging 11.0 points and 3.1 assists, was lost for the season when he
sustained a broken hand in practice on Tuesday.
Notably absent for the Pirates was
sophomore forward John Fields, who was averaging 14.8 points in the last
four games. Fields' grandmother died Tuesday and he left the team to
attend the funeral today in Danville, VA. He is expected to rejoin the
Pirates for the last game of the regular season at Tulane on Saturday
night.
The win at Rice assured ECU (11-17,
5-10 C-USA) of its highest seeding ever for the C-USA Tournament, which
starts Wednesday, March 12 in Memphis. The Pirates' five league wins
matches their previous best campaigns. The 2001-02 team went 5-11 in the
program's first season in C-USA and the 2003-04 team posted a 5-11
league mark.
The 2003-04 Pirates were the only other
ECU team to have won three straight in C-USA, beating Tulane, Texas
Christian and former member South Florida in successive February starts.
ECU made 21 of 24 free throws (87.5
percent) and its bench outscored Rice subs 25-6 as the Pirates swept the
regular-season series from the Owls. The official attendance figure of
1,172 might have been a bit generous. From the Internet video feed, it
appeared that the players outnumbered the fans.
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BOX SCORE
EAST CAROLINA 75, RICE 68
Date: Wednesday, Mar. 5,
2008.
Site: Leonard E. Merrell Center; Katy, Texas.
Attendance: 1,172.
Officials: Duke Edsall, Gerry Pollard, Winston Stith.
Technical Fouls: ECU - Blair; Rice -Braimoh.
SCORE BY PERIODS 1
2 FINAL
East Carolina 31 44 -
75
Rice
35 33 - 68
EAST CAROLINA (11-17,
5-10
C-USA)
PLAYER FG 3PT FT
R PTS MIN
Gagnon f............. 1-4 0-1 3-4
4 5 18
Blair f.............. 7-11 0-0 5-6
13 19 32
Farmer g............. 4-8 0-1 4-4
0 12 33
Hinnant g............ 3-10 3-8 3-3
2 12 32
Jenkins g............ 1-4 0-0 0-0
1 2 30
Legan................ 1-4 1-4 0-1
0 3 13
Young................ 3-3 0-0 3-3
0 9 10
Abrams............... 1-4 0-1 2-2
2 4 16
Wynn................. 4-5 0-0 1-1
2 9 16
TEAM.................
5
Totals...............25-53 4-15 21-24 29
75 200
PERCENT.............. .472 .267 .875
RICE (3-25, 0-15 C-USA)
PLAYER FG 3PT FT
R PTS MIN
Britton f............14-18 0-1 12-15 4
40 38
Perka f.............. 6-12 0-2 0-0
6 12 33
Saunders c........... 2-5 0-0 0-0
2 4 12
Beasley g............ 0-1 0-1 0-0
2 0 32
Ghoram g............. 3-8 0-1 0-0
4 6 24
Braimoh.............. 2-5 0-0 0-0
2 4 21
Beasley.............. 0-2 0-0 0-2
4 0 21
Szalay............... 0-1 0-1 0-0
1 0 10
Talbert.............. 0-0 0-0 2-2
0 2 9
TEAM.................
5
Totals...............27-52 0-6 14-19 30
68 200
PERCENT.............
.519 .000 .737
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