Memphis holds off ECU rally

By Al Myatt
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MEMPHIS — East Carolina fell behind 24-9 in its American Athletic Conference contest at Memphis on Wednesday night and absorbed a 70-58 loss after pulling within 62-58 with 3:50 remaining.

The Pirates were 13 for 27 behind the 3-point arc (48.1 percent) in falling to 8-12 overall and 1-6 in league play.

"I thought there were two ways East Carolina could beat us," said Memphis coach Josh Pastner. "One, if they hit a lot of threes, which they did, and, two, if we turn it over a lot like we've done in the last few games. They shot 48 percent from three, but we only had six turnovers. We were sixth in the country in 3-point defense coming into this game. That will drop a little bit after tonight."

ECU committed 13 turnovers to six for the Tigers (13-7, 6-3) as the hosts extended their defense.

"We did pretty good against the press," said Pirates coach Jeff Lebo. "We had a couple of turnovers against it, and we had to change our press offense a little bit. We had to put our guards back there, which keep you from getting the ball out really quick. It keeps your better ball handlers handling it for the most part. Our transition offense, I thought was pretty good in the second half. We got some transition threes. We pushed it, and they had a hard time getting back to our shooters."

After trailing 39-24 at the half, ECU began the second half on a 16-6 run.

"They had to go a little bit smaller," Lebo said. "We maybe forced them to play a little bit smaller because we were small. We were shooting it pretty well, but they are a talented team. They are young, trying to replace four senior guards from last year. That's hard to do."

Austin Nichols led the hosts with 21 points as he made nine of 14 field goal attempts.

"I think Nichols is probably one of their most improved guys," Lebo said. "I saw him last year a little bit, but they are playing through him right now. Everything is trying to get the ball to him, and when he gets it, something good is going to happen."

Terry Whisnant paced the Pirates with 17 points as he made five of seven from long range. Caleb White had 10 points and Paris Roberts-Campbell scored eight. Lance Tejada tallied six points. Marshall Guilmette added four.

Memphis led 28-24 on the boards. ECU's top rebounder, Michel-Ofik Nzege, went out in the first half with a head injury after playing 14 minutes.

Nichols and Nick King scored four points apiece in a closing 8-0 run for the Tigers.

King and Trahson Burrell totaled 11 points each as Memphis shot 53.8 percent.

The Pirates host Cincinnati on Sunday at 1 p.m. That game will be shown on the CBS Sports Network. The Bearcats defeated ECU 69-48 in Cincinnati on Jan. 6. The Bearcats are 14-5 on the season and 5-2 in the AAC going into a home game with Connecticut tonight.

PAGE UPDATED 01/29/15 01:15 AM.

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