Bearcat bigs help turn back ECU

By Al Myatt
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CINCINNATI —  Octavius Ellis and Gary Clark each had double-doubles to lead Cincinnati to a 75-60 American Athletic Conference win over East Carolina before 12,513 at Fifth Third Arena on Saturday.

The 6-feet, 10-inch Ellis presented matchup problems with16 points and 11 rebounds as the Bearcats improved to 19-7 overall and 9-4 in the league.

Clark, a 6-7 product of Clayton (NC) High School, finished with 15 points and 12 rebounds.

Ellis and Clark each had four assists as the scoring load was shared on both teams.

Five players scored in double figures for Cincinnati and four reached double digits for ECU (10-15, 2-10).

Kevin Johnson scored 13 points in the win. Troy Caupain had 12 points and six assists for the Bearcats. Jacob Evans added 10 points.

The Pirates were led by senior point guard Prince Williams, who had 15 points and five rebounds. Caleb White came off the bench for 13 points. B.J. Tyson had 12 points, three assists and three steals.

Freshman Kentrell Barkley contributed 11 points, five rebounds and four assists for ECU.

Mike Zangari had seven points and a team-high six rebounds in the losing cause. Clarence Williams contributed two points and five rebounds in 18 minutes.

The Pirates were coming off a 100-92 triple overtime loss to Tulane at home on Wednesday night but regrouped to battle effectively until the hosts expanded a five-point lead to as many as 17 points over the last 6:41.

"We did some good things on the road in a tough environment against a really-good team that is really hard to score on," said ECU coach Jeff Lebo. "We got good play from our perimeter players. We went nose-to-nose with them at those spots. We were just a little out-manned there at the four and five spots. They took advantage of us there."

Cincinnati held a 37-30 rebounding advantage. The Bearcats made 29 of 60 field goal attempts for 48.3 percent, including eight of 27 behind the arc for 29.6 percent. Ellis was seven of nine from the floor and Clark hit six of eight from the field. The hosts made nine of 12 free throws (75 percent).

ECU was 22 of 58 overall on field goal shooting (37.9 percent), offsetting that by going nine of 22 on threes (40.9 percent). The Pirates were seven of 11 at the line for 63.6 percent.

ECU committed 12 turnovers to 10 for Cincinnati, which will visit the Pirates on Feb. 27.

ECU hosts South Florida on Tuesday at 7 p.m. The Bulls are 5-20 overall and 2-10 in the league going into a matchup at Temple (15-8, 9-3) at 3 p.m. today.

PAGE UPDATED 02/14/16 01:34 AM.

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