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Missed call rescues
Deacs
By KEITH PARSONS
AP Sports Writer
WINSTON-SALEM — Coach Skip
Prosser credited Trent Strickland with the play of the game to save No.
23 Wake Forest, a defensive stop that forced a crucial turnover in the
waning minutes.
Minutes later, Strickland
told the real story.
"To be honest with you,
the ball went out of bounds off my foot," he said. "I guess the ref
couldn't see it."
It was that kind of night
for East Carolina.
Strickland made all the
big plays on both ends of the court, finishing with 20 points and nine
rebounds to help the Demon Deacons hold off the pesky Pirates 58-54 on
Tuesday night.
Eric Williams added 13
points and had the go-ahead free throw despite making only five of 13
from the line for the Deacons (11-2), who tuned up for their Atlantic
Coast Conference opener against No. 1 Duke with an uninspired effort.
"The thing I can say is
that we're an unpredictable team," Williams said with a smile. "I think
we've got the element of surprise on our side. But we're not going to
dwell on this game."
Wake Forest improved to
4-0 against the Pirates (5-7), and although the teams haven't met in 20
years, two of the previous three games were decided by five points or
less. This one followed that theme.
East Carolina, playing
hard for first-year coach and former Deacons assistant Ricky Stokes, had
won two in a row following a five-game losing streak. The chances
certainly were there for one of the biggest upsets in school history,
but a few untimely turnovers and some missed shots sent the Pirates to a
heartbreaking loss.
"We came in here prepared
to win a game, and I think the kids played hard and the staff did an
excellent job," Stokes said. "Naturally, we're disappointed, we had a
chance to win. But we didn't do the necessary things that winning teams
do down the stretch."
The schedule doesn't get
any easier, either. The Pirates host No. 4 Memphis next week when they
open play in Conference USA.
Courtney Captain led them
with 14 points, and Jeremy Ingram, who played one season at Wake Forest
before transferring, had 10. Leading scorer Corey Rouse fought foul
trouble and finished with only two points, about 13 below his average.
Captain's 3-pointer with
about 4 minutes left gave East Carolina its final lead at 54-52, but
those were its final points.
"It felt good to be out
there, considering the relationship me and some of those guys have,"
Ingram said. "We just had some little miscommunication, but that's
something we can work on and we can get better at."
Strickland tied the game
with a follow of a miss by Justin Gray, then helped Wake Forest get the
ball back by forcing a turnover by Tom Hammonds. Earlier, Hammonds had
success driving to the basket, so Strickland was determined not to let
it happen again.
"He actually took a couple
on me," Strickland said. "I kind of get defensive when a person scores
on me, so I was saying to myself, in my mind, that he was not going to
score, no matter what happens."
When he tried to draw a
charge, the ball bounced into the seats, and the referees awarded
possession to the Deacons. It apparently was the wrong call.
"It was off my foot,"
Strickland said. "I guess the ref didn't see it, or didn't want to see
it, which is good both ways for us."
He fed Williams in the
post on the next trip, and after a foul by Jonathan Hart, Williams made
the second free throw to give the Deacons the lead for good.
Gray, who was 1-for-10
from the field, made two free throws and Chris Ellis added one to
complete the scoring.
"I'm going to knock them
all down eventually," Williams said. "Like my mom always said, one day
the sun's going to shine, so I'm going to keep working on it."
Each time Wake Forest
appeared ready to pull away, the Pirates had an answer. They fell behind
24-16 late in the first half before Captain made a 3 and Hart turned a
steal into a breakaway dunk. Strickland had a putback for the Deacons,
but Ingram got free for a slam and Captain added another jumper to cut
East Carolina's deficit to one at halftime.
The second half was more
of the same. Williams powered for a layup as he was fouled and converted
the free throw for a three-point play, but the Pirates again came back.
Ingram matched Williams'
three-point play after following up a miss by Sam Hinnant, then scored
in close to give East Carolina its first lead since 2 1/2 minutes into
the second half. It stayed close from there, with seven ties and 14 lead
changes the rest of the way.
"Give East Carolina
credit," Prosser said. "We were obviously inefficient and ineffective
offensively. I don't think we were strong enough and decisive enough."
Before diving into the
C-USA wars when Memphis pays a visit to Greenville on Wednesday, Jan.
11, the Pirates host Division II St. Paul's on Saturday at 7 p.m.
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BOX
SCORE WAKE FOREST 58,
EAST CAROLINA 54
Jan. 3, 2006, Winston-Salem,
NC.
Officials: Larry Rose, Terry Moore, Jeff Nichols.
Attendance: 14,665.
EAST CAROLINA
25 29 — 54
WAKE FOREST 26 32 — 58
EAST CAROLINA (5-7)
FG 3PT FT Reb
No Player Min M-A M-A M-A O-D-T A PF ST TO BK PTS
22 Tyronne Beale 24 2-6
0-0 0-0 0-1-1 0
5 0 1 0 4
23 Corey Rouse 18
1-3 0-0 0-0 2-2-4
0 4 1 1 0
2
14 Sam Hinnant 31 3-10
1-4 0-0 2-4-6 1
1 1 3 0 7
10 Japhet McNeil 20 1-5
0-1 1-1 1-0-1 3
3 0 2 0 3
15 Jeremy Ingram 24 4-11
1-7 1-1 1-2-3 1
5 5 1 0 10
5 Courtney Captain 26 5-11 4-9 0-0
0-1-1 1 3 3 2
0 14
12 Taylor Gagnon 1 0-0
0-0 0-0 0-0-0 0
0 0 0 0 0
21 Tom Hammonds Jr. 18 2-5 0-1
2-4 0-3-3 3 1
1 1 0 6
31 Jonathan Hart 22 1-3
0-0 4-4 1-0-1 1
4 2 0 0 6
44 Quinton Goods 16 0-0
0-0 2-2 1-2-3 0
2 0 1 0 2
1-1-2 0
1
Totals
200 19-54 6-22 10-12 9-16-25 10 28
13 13 0 54
Percentages:
FG .352, 3PT .273, FT .833; Deadball Rebounds: 2.
WAKE FOREST (11-2)
FG 3PT FT Reb
No Player Min M-A M-A M-A O-D-T A PF ST TO BK PTS
31 Eric Williams 37 4-6
0-0 5-13 2-4-6 0
3 1 3 1 13
33 Trent Strickland 33 7-11 1-2
5-6 5-4-9 1 3
0 2 0 20
55 Kyle Visser 14
2-3 0-0 0-1 0-2-2
0 1 0 3 1
4
1 Justin Gray 37 1-10
1-7 7-8 2-4-6 3
0 1 3 1 10
2 Shamaine Dukes 27 0-2 0-2
2-2 0-2-2 3 0
0 4 0 2
0 Chris Ellis 23 2-5
1-2 4-7 4-3-7 2
3 0 0 0 9
4 Harvey Hale 7 0-1
0-0 0-0 0-3-3 0
0 0 1 0 0
11 Cameron Stanley 4 0-0
0-0 0-0 0-0-0 1
0 0 3 0 0
23 Kevin Swinton 6 0-0
0-0 0-0 0-3-3 0
1 0 1 1 0
34 Michael Drum 12 0-0
0-0 0-0 0-0-0 0
1 0 1 0 0
0-1-1 0
0
Totals
200 16-38 3-13 23-37 13-26-39 10 12
2 21 4 58
Percentages:
FG .421, 3PT .231, FT .622; Deadball Rebounds: 7. |
02/23/07 10:58 AM
©2005 Bonesville.net and
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but not limited to staff, Associated Press, ECU, opposing team and Conference USA
reports.
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