Inside Game Day Wednesday, February 8, 2012 By Al Myatt

Focused Tigers down depleted ECU

Al Myatt
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GREENVILLE — Reports that Memphis will move from Conference USA to the Big East beginning with the 2013-14 scholastic year did not serve as a distraction for the Tigers in a 70-59 win over East Carolina at Williams Arena in Minges Coliseum on Wednesday night.

The Pirates cut a 16-point Memphis lead to six points at 46-40 but lost small forward Erin Straughn to a bloody lip in the process and Memphis (17-7, 7-2 C-USA) extended its lead to as many as 19 points over the next 10 minutes.

Memphis's Joe Jackson drew a flagrant one foul for throwing an elbow on Straughn's injury but Pirates coach Jeff Lebo said the infraction was unintentional.

"He had a huge gash, a hole in his lip," Lebo said. "It's going to require some work, I'm sure. ... We had an opportunity there. We got the foul shots (Shamarr Bowden made a pair at the line). We got the ball, we scored (3-pointer by Miguel Paul). We cut it to six. Just not having him, we don't have a lot of depth as it is.

"He's probably one of our best defenders and he made a couple of threes, too, but that's the way the game works."

The Pirates had already lost frontcourt players Austin Steed (academically ineligible in graduate school) and Yasin Kolo (foot condition).

Paul had 13 points for ECU (12-11, 3-7 C-USA), 11 of which came in the second half. He also had a game-high eight assists. Darrius Morrow had 12 points despite finishing the game with four fouls. Bowden had 10 points. Maurice Kemp had 11 rebounds, helping ECU to a 37-34 advantage on the boards.

Memphis shot 50 percent (12 for 24) from the floor in the second half while ECU was 12 for 34 (35.3 percent) over the last 20 minutes.

Extended defensive pressure helped the visitors disrupt ECU's offense and gave the Pirates less time to run their offense. Wesley Witherspoon was credited with four steals as ECU trailed 21-9 in points off of turnovers.

The Tigers were led by guard Chris Crawford with 16 points. Will Barton added 15 points in the win. Wesley Witherspoon provided 12 points and 11 rebounds.

ECU's next three games are on the road beginning with a matchup at Marshall at 7 p.m. on Saturday.

BOX SCORE

MEMPHIS 70, EAST CAROLINA 59

Date: Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2012
Place: Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum, Greenville, NC
Attendance: 5,460
Records: ECU 12-11 (3-7 Conference USA); Memphis 17-7 (7-2)

SCORE BY PERIODS     1   2  FINAL
Memphis             37  33  -  70
East Carolina       25  34  -  59

MEMPHIS TIGERS
 # PLAYER                    FG   3PT    FT  R PTS MIN
.........................    ..   ...    ..  . ... ...
00 Hall, Ferrakohn..... f   3-4   0-0   0-1  2   6  11
10 Black, Tarik........ f   3-6   0-0   1-3  5   7  27
02 Barton, Antonio..... g   2-3   0-0   0-0  2   4  28
03 Crawford, Chris..... g  6-12   3-6   1-1  2  16  24
05 Barton, Will........ g  7-13   0-3   1-1  3  15  40
01 Jackson, Joe..........   2-9   1-4   2-2  2   7  29
11 Witherspoon, Wesley...  4-10   1-3   3-3 11  12  29
30 Stephens, D.J.........   1-2   0-0   1-2  4   3  10
32 Simpson, Stan.........   0-1   0-0   0-0  1   0   2
TEAM.....................                    2
TOTALS................... 28-60  5-16  9-13 34  70 200
PERCENT..................  46.7  31.3  69.2

EAST CAROLINA PIRATES
 # PLAYER                    FG   3PT    FT  R PTS MIN
.........................    ..   ...    ..  . ... ...
01 Morrow, Darrius..... f  5-10   0-0   2-4  5  12  34
02 Kemp, Maurice....... f   2-8   0-0   0-0 11   4  26
00 Paul, Miguel........ g  4-12   2-5   3-4  1  13  37
20 Bowden, Shamarr..... g   3-7   1-3   3-4  1  10  19
23 Straughn, Erin...... g   2-3   2-3   0-0  0   6  14
11 Gaines, Corvonn.......   1-4   0-0   0-0  4   2  25
12 Sampson, Robert.......   3-8   1-4   0-0  8   7  20
22 CAMPBELL, Paris.......   2-5   0-1   1-3  3   5  25
TEAM.....................                    4
TOTALS................... 22-57  6-16 9-15  37  59 200
PERCENT..................  38.6  37.5  60.0

Fouled out: None
Technical Fouls: None
Officials: Tom Eades, Karl Hess, Rick Crawford

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PAGE UPDATED 02/09/12 03:53 AM.