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ECU Disarms Rifles to End Losing Streak
From Associated Press Reports with Staff Contributions
Box Score GREENVILLE — It
wasn't pretty, but a win is a win.
East Carolina, reeling from a six-game losing streak, shot
poorly from the field but was stingy enough on defense to subdue
USC-Spartanburg 64-52 at Williams Arena on Saturday night.
Fred Primus and Bryan Foxx came off the bench and scored 12
points apiece, giving the Pirates enough scoring punch to lead the game from
start to finish and earn their first victory since beating Northwestern
71-68 on November 15.
ECU was frazzled by the Division II Rifles at times,
particularly during a span late in the second half, but Pirate head coach
Bill Herrion was intent on focusing on the positives.
"Right now we just needed a win," he said. "An encouraging
thing is that defensively we have strung together three consecutive solid
defensive efforts."
ECU, which has struggled offensively while star forward Gabriel
Mikulas sits out an NCAA suspension, relied on an aggressive defense to
mount strong challenges in its previous two outings, a 56-54 loss at
UNC-Greensboro and a 53-52 defeat at home to Old Dominion.
Mikulas, the team's leading scorer a year ago, has been
cleared to return to action for ECU's Conference USA contest at UAB on
January 8.
The Pirates (3-6) led 38-23 at halftime, but Spartanburg
(3-6) went on a 14-2 run down the stretch to cut the lead to eight.
Pirate freshman Moussa Badiane helped swat away the comeback
attempt with a couple of blocked shots and pair of free throws as ECU pulled
away with an 8-0 run.
Kevin Harrington led the Rifles with 13 points and six
rebounds. Curtis Blair added 12 points and seven rebounds.
East Carolina shot only 36 percent overall but was 9-for-24 from
3-point range, with Primus connecting on 4-for-6 from long range. Brandon Hawkins had 11 points and Kenyatta Brown added 10
points and six rebounds for the Pirates.
Spartanburg, which didn't score in the first five minutes of
the game, was thrown off kilter by the generally tenacious ECU defensive
effort, shooting just 32.7 percent from the field, including 5 of 16 from
behind the arc.
Box Score
EAST CAROLINA 64, USC-SPARTANBURG 52
USC-SPARTANBURG (3-6)
Blair 5-13 0-1 12, Bell 2-6 1-2 6, Diebel
1-1 0-0 2, Hall 1-6 0-0 3, Murrell 1-8 0-0 2, Sanders 3-4 4-6 10, Harrington
4-12 4-6 13, O'Neal 0-2 4-4 4. Totals 17-52 13-19 52.
EAST CAROLINA (3-6)
Moore 2-13 0-2 4, Bing 1-7 1-3 3, Badiane 1-2 2-2 4, Brown 2-5 5-6 10,
Holcomb-Faye 1-5 2-4 5, Primus 4-6 0-0 12, Foxx 5-6 0-1 12, Hawkins 2-6 6-6
11, Boddie 0-0 1-2 1, Twitty 0-1 0-1 0, Howard 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 19-52 17-27
64.
Halftime — East Carolina 38-23.
3-Point goals — S.C.-Spartanburg 5-16 (Blair 2-5, Hall 1-1, Bell 1-3,
Harrington 1-5, Murrell 0-2); East Carolina 9-24 (Primus 4-6, Foxx 2-3,
Brown 1-3, Holcomb-Faye 1-3, Hawkins 1-4, Bing 0-2, Moore 0-3).
Rebounds — S.C.-Spartanburg 34 (Bell, Blair 7), East Carolina 40 (Bing,
Moore 7).
Assists — S.C.-Spartanburg 10 (Blair, Harrington 3), East Carolina 12
(Holcomb-Faye 5).
Total fouls — S.C.-Spartanburg 23, East Carolina 20.
Fouled out — None.
A — 2,685.
Copyright 2001
Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Bonesville.net
contributed to
this report.
02/23/2007 10:59:43 AM
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