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Pirates can't catch runaway Williams
From staff and wire
reports
MEMPHIS � DeAngelo
Williams rushed for 226 yards and two touchdowns Saturday as Memphis
held off an East Carolina comeback and claimed a 27-24 Conference USA
victory.
Williams' performance was
enough to help offset a second half surge by the Pirates that narrowed a
17-0 halftime deficit and put the game up for grabs in the final
quarter.
Williams,
promoted by Memphis as a Heisman Trophy candidate,
had a career-high 39 rushes in the game and scored on a pair of 1-yard
runs.
In the end, the Tigers
(4-3, 3-2 C-USA) would need all of Williams' exploits as well as
contributions from others to snap East Carolina's two-game winning
streak.
The Pirates (3-4, 2-2) had
cut the Tigers' lead to 20-17 on James Pinkney's 6-yard touchdown pass
to Chris Johnson with 10:25 left.
But the Tigers answered
with a 15-play, 80-yard drive that consumed 8:08. Quarterback Maurice
Avery's 1-yard sneak capped the drive and preserved the Memphis victory.
Pinkney hit Phillip Henry
with a 2-yard scoring pass with 10 seconds left for the final score.
Pinkney finished 26-of-46
passing for 297 yards, the bulk of the Pirates' 343 yards of offense. It
was his seventh consecutive game with 200-plus passing yards, tying a
school record.
Aundrae Allison had 10
catches for 108 yards, his fifth game of the season with more than 100
yards in receptions.
Stephen Gostkowski booted
a career-long 51-yard field goal to open the Memphis scoring. The
Pirates blocked another Gostkowski attempt � from 39 yards � at the
close of the half.
Memphis held a 20-10 lead
entering the fourth after the Pirates scored on a 27-yard field goal by
Robert Lee and a 27-yard pass from Pinkney to Allison.
02/23/2007 10:54 AM
Copyright 2005 The
Associated Press. Bonesville.net contributed to this report. All rights reserved. This material may
not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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