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ECU Falls Hard to 49ers; Cincy Rematch Looms
From Associated Press Dispatches with Staff Contributions
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| East Carolina's
Gabriel Mikulas swishes a free throw against Charlotte on
Saturday. The sophomore forward, who entered yesterday's game
hitting 92.1 percent of his free throws (35-38), made 6 of 9 from
the line against the 49ers and also had three field goals to lead
the Pirates in scoring with 12 points. — Photo:
Greg Vacek |
|
 CHARLOTTE
— In college basketball, when you're prone to miserable shooting
performances, it doesn't take long to tumble head-long from the top of the
mountain to the bottom of the valley.
East Carolina, which only ten days before had shocked
tradition-steeped Louisville, couldn't find the basket for the second game
in a row on Saturday and suffered its second straight humbling defeat.
Jobey Thomas scored 22 points as Charlotte went on a 35-9
run to open the second half and turned a close game into an 87-52 pasting of
its cross-state league rival.
Gabriel Mikulas led the Pirates (7-12, 1-6) with 12 points
and eight rebounds. No other East Carolina player reached double figures as
the Pirates shot only 27 percent (18-of-66) from the floor and 9 percent
(2-of-24) from 3-point range.
Cam Stephens and Demon Brown scored 11 points apiece as the
49ers (12-6, 6-1 Conference USA) won their fifth straight and kept pressure
on No. 4 Cincinnati, atop the conference's American Division standings.
The 49ers scorched the nets for 77 percent (23-of-30) from
the floor in the second half as they extended a 29-25 halftime lead to 64-34
with 9:41 remaining.
Thomas, who was held to nine points Wednesday when his own
team also knocked of Louisville, scored eight in the final 2:23 of the first
half as Charlotte overcame a slow start.
Charlotte then hit 14 of its first 18 shots in the second
half to pull away.
The 49ers made just five of their first 20 shots and led
18-17 with 3:56 left. But Charlotte used a 9-4 run to open their largest
lead of the half at 27-21 on Stephens' first basket.
ECU's shooting performance was even worse than its 38
percent effort from the field, including a lousy 11 percent from three-point
range, against DePaul on Wednesday night, a home game which the Pirates lost
80-58.
In the throes of a three-game losing streak that began at
Saint Louis on January 19, ECU will have to find a miracle cure for its
shooting woes if it hopes to avoid another near-term shellacking. The
Pirates' next stop is Cincinnati, where they will be stalked by the Bearcats
on Tuesday night.
Cincinnati, No. 4 in last week's AP poll, extended its
nation-leading winning streak to 19 games with a 78-68 road win over South
Florida on Saturday. One of the victories in the string was a 72-62 triumph
on the Pirates' home court on January 5.
Box Score
CHARLOTTE
87,
EAST CAROLINA
52
EAST CAROLINA (7-12)
Brown 3-7 0-1 6, Bing 2-12 3-4 8,
Mikulas 3-7 6-9 12, Hawkins 0-3 0-0 0, Holcomb-Faye 3-10 0-0 6, Duckett 0-0
0-0 0, Primus 1-7 0-0 3, Foxx 2-6 5-7 9, Boddie 2-6 0-0 4, Badiane 1-3 0-0
2, Moore 1-5 0-0 2, Twitty 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 18-66 14-21 52.
CHARLOTTE (12-6)
Nash 4-9 0-0 10, Stephens 5-12
1-3 11, Williams 3-4 0-0 6, Brown 4-7 0-1 11, Thomas 8-13 2-2 22, Johnson
3-7 2-3 8, Reed 2-3 3-5 7, Niparavicius 2-2 0-0 4, Basden 3-4 1-2 7, Howard
0-0 1-2 1. Totals 34-61 10-18 87.
Halftime: Charlotte 29-25.
3-Point goals: East Carolina 2-24
(Bing 1-5, Primus 1-6, Foxx 0-1, Moore 0-1, Boddie 0-2, Brown 0-3, Hawkins
0-3, Holcomb-Faye 0-3); Charlotte 9-21 (Thomas 4-7, Brown 3-6, Nash 2-6,
Johnson 0-2).
Rebounds: East Carolina 43
(Mikulas 8), Charlotte 44 (Williams 11).
Assists: East Carolina 3 (Foxx,
Hawkins, Primus), Charlotte 22 (Brown 8).
Total Fouls: East Carolina 19,
Charlotte 21.
Fouled Out: None.
Attendance: 9,105.
02/23/2007 10:59:31 AM
Copyright 2002
Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Bonesville.net
contributed to
this report.
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