ECU breaks through on the road

By Al Myatt
©2015 Bonesville.net
All rights reserved.

ORLANDO, FL — Terry Whisnant made a 3-pointer from the right side with 1:04 left for a 66-64 East Carolina lead and the Pirates made enough free throws down the stretch on Saturday afternoon at Central Florida to nail down their first road win of the season, 71-66.

ECU (13-16, 6-10 American Athletic Conference) used a balanced scoring effort that included 14 points from Caleb White, 13 from Antonio Robinson, 13 from freshman B.J. Tyson and 11 from Whisnant.

In contrast to a 60-49 home loss to Connecticut, which the Pirates led 33-24 at the half on Wednesday night, the last 20 minutes were ECU's best in their second meeting with the Knights.

The Pirates had topped UCF at home by a 67-49 margin on Feb. 7.

ECU outscored their hosts 46-35 in the second half Saturday to sweep the season series.

The Pirates made 17 of 27 from the field in the second half, a torrid 63 percent, after dropping 11 of 22 in the first half for 50 percent.

ECU made 57.1 percent of its shots for the game. The Pirates sank seven of 16 threes for 43.8 percent.

"Both teams, offensively, were really sharp," said Pirates coach Jeff Lebo.

The Knights (12-16, 5-12) finished at 52.3 percent from the floor.

"We made some shots the second half and we moved the ball well," Lebo said. "We attacked their man and their zone awfully well. We finished off possessions offensively with high percentage shots that went in for us."

The high degree of offensive execution produced eight assists for Robinson and five for Whisnant. Robinson assisted on the go-ahead three by Whisnant with 64 seconds remaining.

Marshall Guilmette scored eight points, all in the second half, hitting both of his attempts from beyond the arc.

White snared a team-high five rebounds on a day with relatively few missed shots and Paris Roberts-Campbell had three steals for the Pirates in 15 minutes.

Michel-Ofik Nzege had six points in 14 minutes, finishing with four fouls. Kanu Aja provided four points in five minutes.

White had 10 points after intermission and Whisnant warmed up for nine points in the second half.

"How about Whisnant?" Lebo said. "He'd been struggling, but finally makes the big one there."

Whisnant, a junior who transferred from Florida State, had missed all four of his 3-point attempts before finding the range and putting the Pirates ahead to stay.

After Whisnant connected from in front of the ECU bench with 1:04 to go, Robinson, Whisnant and Tyson made free throws to seal the outcome.

ECU finished eight for 14 at the line.

White, Guilmette, Robinson and Tyson had rebounds for ECU in the final 44 seconds.

The Pirates host Temple on Thursday at 7 p.m. (ESPNU) and will recognize Francis Edosomwan, Roberts-Campbell and Robinson for Senior Night.

The Owls defeated ECU 66-53 in Philadelphia on Feb. 14. A 66-54 home win over Houston on Thursday night put Temple at 20-9 overall and 11-5 in league play.

The Pirates are currently seventh among 11 teams in the American standings.

PAGE UPDATED 03/01/15 03:48 AM.

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