Lefties lead ECU

Staff Report
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GREENVILLE — Left-handed scoring powered East Carolina past South Carolina-Upstate 82-71 in Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum on Friday night.

Sophomore B.J. Tyson led the way with a career-high 26 points. Freshman Kentrell Barkley had 18 points and junior Caleb White rounded out the southpaw assault with 13 points.

The Spartans, guided by former ECU coach Eddie Payne, fell behind 8-0 at the outset but rallied to lead 27-23.

A jumper by Tyson put the Pirates ahead to stay at 28-27 with 4:18 left in the first half.

ECU (5-3) was on top 39-33 at the break.

Upstate (1-9) was within 53-50 with 11 minutes to go before before the Pirates got some cushion with a 10-4 run.

Prince Williams had 11 points and four assists for ECU. Mike Zangari had seven points and six rebounds.

Barkley grabbed nine rebounds as the Pirates held a 33-31 rebounding advantage.

Tyson contributed five rebounds and three assists.

ECU made 27 of 50 field goal attempts for 54 percent and dropped 25 of 32 free throws.

“Not often as a coach do you come out with a W when the other team shoots 13 of 27 from the three," said Pirates coach Jeff Lebo. "So give them credit. They really attacked the zone and made shots against it. I'm really proud of my group to understand our game plan, which was to take the ball to the rim."

ECU had a commanding 48-18 lead on points scored in the paint and led 17-4 on second chance scoring.

A pair of freshmen paced the Spartans' scoring as Mike Cunningham had 18 points and Deion Holmes added 15. Junior Michael Buchanon chipped in with 14 points.

Lebo was pleased with his team's zone defense.

“The thing about the zone too, they make some 3s in it, but you look at the fouls, and we did not foul," Lebo said. "We shot 14 more foul shots than they did. That’s one of the things you kind of give up a little bit in hopes that they shoot the perimeter shot a little bit. A couple of them were open, but some of them were contested. They had a great night. They threw one in backwards.”

The Pirates improved to 4-0 at home before a crowd of 4,464.

ECU takes a three-game winning streak to College of Charleston for a 7 p.m. tipoff on Monday. The Cougars are 4-2 with a 70-58 win over LSU on Nov. 30 going into a matchup at The Citadel (5-3) at 11 a.m. today (ESPN3).

PAGE UPDATED 12/05/15 02:21 AM.

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