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Charlotte Crashes Boards,
Sinks Pirates
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East Carolina head
coach Bill Herrion, meeting with the media after Saturday's
Conference USA clash at Williams Arena against in-state rival
Charlotte, cited a poor first-half performance as a key reason for
the Pirates' 84-75 loss.
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By
Denny O'Brien
©2002 Bonesville.net
GREENVILLE — For a few moments on Saturday, it looked as if East Carolina
would overcome a double-digit second-half deficit, rally past in-state rival
Charlotte and post that historic first Conference USA victory.
Trailing by 16 with 8:20 to go, ECU mounted a furious run to ignite the
crowd and close the gap to 67-62 with less than five minutes to play.
The Pirates would get no closer, though, as the 49ers had all the answers
down the stretch en route to notching an all-important 84-75 road victory.
With the win, Charlotte (8-6, 2-1 C-USA) took a 5-4 lead in its overall
series with East Carolina (6-9, 0-3) in addition to gaining a 1-0 advantage
in league competition, since the battle marked the first time the two
schools have met in C-USA play.
"Any road victory you can get in Conference USA is very important,"
Charlotte head coach Bobby Lutz said. "They are very hard to come by.
"I was very pleased with our guys coming off a disappointing loss (at
Cincinnati). We came out very ready to play. It was one of our better
all-around games."
Jobey Thomas led four 49ers in double figures with 20 points, but it was
the tough inside play of Cam Stephens, who chipped in 19 points and a
game-high 12 rebounds, that fueled a first-half run that put the Niners
ahead to stay. It marked the fourth-consecutive double-double for Stephens.
ECU sophomore forward Erroyl Bing led all scorers with 24 points, while
adding nine rebounds. Bing canned nine of his 11 shots, including five of
six from behind the arc. Fellow soph Gabriel Mikulas added 16 points, nine
rebounds and a game-high five assists in his first home game since returning
from a 13-game suspension.
Sparked by the blue-collar efforts of Stephens, Charlotte held a 30-16
rebounding advantage in the first half. Crashing the offensive glass with a
vengeance, the 49ers pulled down 17 offensive boards to help build a
12-point lead at the break.
"I don't know if you really win or lose a game in the first half, but we
obviously didn't help ourselves the first 20 minutes today," ECU head coach
Bill Herrion said. "We got our butts handed to us on the backboard.
"It was just disappointing at halftime that we were getting out-worked
and out-hustled. It seemed like they got every loose ball."
Despite Charlotte's decided advantage on the boards, East Carolina hung
with its in-state foe for much of an exciting first half. Then, after
Mikulas's free throws pulled the Pirates to within four at 36-32 with 2:40
to play, Charlotte turned up the heat, closing the half on a 10-2 run to
take control of the game.
ECU point guard Travis Holcomb-Faye acknowledged that the Pirates didn't
match the the 49ers' first-half intensity, and noted that Herrion had a
message waiting for his team in the locker room.
"We got in the locker room, and coach (Herrion) wrote the word 'heart' on
the board," Holcomb-Faye said. "He said they just played with more heart
than us in the first half. They were getting loose balls, rebounds, and
out-hustling us."
The heart-to-heart talk about 'heart' must have had an effect on the
Pirates, who stormed out of the gates in the second half, scoring five quick
points to melt Charlotte's lead to seven. Even after falling behind by 16
with just over eight minutes to play, ECU showed the grit to not quit,
fighting and clawing to the very end.
Fueled by two Moussa Badiane blocked shots, East Carolina went on an 11-0
run to creep within five when Mikulas nailed two free throws with 4:42
remaining.
But just as it did all afternoon long, Charlotte responded when it had
to, getting a crucial three from forward Curtis Nash to dampen ECU's late
upset bid.
Just as had been the case in a league loss at UAB last Tuesday, the
Pirates got within striking distance, then couldn't make enough baskets at
crunch time to get over the hump.
"We've got to make shots," Herrion said. "I thought we had a lot of
wide-open looks at crucial times."
East Carolina shot just 41 percent from the field for the game, though
the Pirates did find some success from behind the arc, hitting ten of their
29 attempts. Charlotte didn't fair much better from the floor, connecting on
just 41 percent of its attempts in a physical, hard-fought game.
Though winless through three league games, the Pirates have been
competitive in each contest. According to Bing, league foes can expect a
dogfight from the C-USA newcomers every night out.
"We're not going down without a fight," Bing said. "If we're going to
lose every game, we're going to lose every game swinging."
The Pirates will have to come out swinging on Wednesday night, as Rick
Pitino brings a pressing Louisville team into Greenville for what looks to
be another hard-fought C-USA contest.
Box Score
CHARLOTTE 84, EAST CAROLINA 75
CHARLOTTE (8-6, 2-1 C-USA)
Nash 5-10, 3-4, 16; Stephens 9-16, 1-1, 19; Williams 0-3, 0-0, 0; Brown
3-9, 8-10, 14; Thomas 6-14, 5-6, 20; Johnson 2-5, 2-2, 6; Reed 1-3, 1-1, 3;
Niparavicius 0-2, 0-0, 0; Basden 2-5, 2-2, 6 — 84.
EAST CAROLINA (6-9, 0-3)
Brown 3-9, 3-4, 9; Bing 9-11, 1-2, 24; Mikulas 2-7, 12-12, 16; Hawkins
1-5, 0-0, 2; Holcomb-Faye 2-6, 1-3, 7; Primus 2-6, 0-0, 5; Boddie 0-1, 0-0,
0; Badiane 2-3, 2-3, 6; Moore 2-8, 0-0, 6 — 75.
Halftime: Charlotte 46, East Carolina 34.
3-Point Field Goals: Charlotte 6-17 (Thomas 3-5, Nash 3-6); East Carolina
10-29 (Bing 5-6, Holcomb-Faye 2-4, Moore 2-7, Primus 1-4).
Rebounds: Charlotte 43 (Stephens 12, Williams 7, Thomas 6, Nash 4); East Carolina 35 (Bing
9, Mikulas 9, Badiane 6, Brown 5).
Assists: Charlotte 9 (Brown 3); East Carolina 14 (Mikulas 5).
Total Fouls: Charlotte 19, East Carolina 19.
Fouled out: Charlotte - Johnson.
Technical Fouls: None.
Attendance: 6,430.
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Copyright 2001
Bonesville.net. All rights reserved. This material may not be
published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press
contributed to this report.
02/23/2007 02:06:00 AM
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