Pirates overtake UNCW

Staff Report
©2015 Bonesville.net
All rights reserved.

GREENVILLE — East Carolina trailed UNC-Wilmington 38-27 after a dunk by Chris Flemmings of the Seahawks with 2:37 left in the first half, but the Pirates came back for a 78-73 win Wednesday night in Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum.

B.J. Tyson scored a game-high 21 points for ECU (7-4) and Caleb White added 20 points.

The Pirates warmed up to shoot 50 percent from the field in the second half and made three of five behind the arc (60 percent) in the final 20 minutes. ECU hit 17 of 22 free throws after narrowing UNCW's lead to 39-34 at the half.

The Pirates were 35 of 51 at the line (68.6 percent) for the game.

ECU broke the sixth tie of the nonconference contest on a layup by freshman Kentrell Barkley for a 53-51 lead with 10:20 remaining. The Pirates led the rest of the way.

“Terrific win for our team and a hard game to play," said ECU coach Jeff Lebo. "There were a lot of fouls. It was hard to get in a flow with so many stoppages, but I thought we left a lot of points early on the free throw line.

"We had 29 foul shots the first half and we’re down. I haven’t seen that very often. Defensively, we did a lot better job in the second half, forced them into perimeter shots, contested shots. Lucky for us they missed a lot of those.

"I thought we handled their pressure very well, didn’t turn it over much against the press. We made some adjustments to our press offense in preparation for it, but I thought our guys really did a fantastic job not only breaking it, but we wanted to attack on the other end.”

UNCW (5-2) finished three of 25 behind the arc. The Seahawks were 14 of 21 on foul shots.

“Very unusual game because when you look at the stat sheet you see we scored eight more field goals and we took 15 more shots, and certainly we outrebounded those guys," said Seahawks coach Kevin Keatts. "We had 14 offensive rebounds so when you look at the stat sheet without knowing the score you would say UNC-Wilmington won the game.

"Give those guys credit – I thought they made some plays down the stretch. One thing you can't do as a team against the zone is go three for 25 (beyond the arc). Any time you're on the road playing against your opponent and they take 30 more free throws than you, it's tough to win a game.”

Barkley finished with 15 points, a team-high eight rebounds and five assists. Mike Zangari added 11 points, hitting two of three from long distance and making five of six free throws.

“Wilmington plays a style that gets you there (the free throw line)," Lebo said. "They put a lot of people on the free throw line if you look at their statistics. We knew we were going to have opportunities, but we couldn’t let them put us on our heels because they’re a physical basketball team and they’re strong on the perimeter defensively.

"I thought we did a good job attacking and driving the ball one-on-one. It’s hard to play one-on-one defensively now. The way they call it, it’s almost impossible. Lucky for us we got to the line a lot and shot it better in the second half from the foul line.”

Senior point guard Prince Williams contributed eight points, seven rebounds and five assists for the Pirates with just one turnover in 32 minutes. He drove for a three-point play that put ECU ahead 73-65 with 1:27 to go.

White, who also had seven rebounds, made a pair of free throws for a 78-70 lead with nine seconds remaining.

Tyson said Lebo challenged the Pirates at halftime as new ECU football coach Scottie Montgomery was being introduced to a crowd of 4,038 at the conclusion of exam break.

“Coach just tested us," Tyson said. "This was one of the toughest teams we were going to play at home, and he just sat down and said, ‘Listen, we need y'all to come out and we need y'all to play. This is one that we really need.’ And that’s what we did. I know I ended up with three fouls in the first half, but I didn’t panic. I didn’t get down, I stayed with the team and we won.”

Flemmings led the visitors with 16 points. Craig Ponder added 14 in the setback and Jordon Talley scored 13. Marcus Bryan had 10 rebounds as UNCW had a 42-35 rebounding lead.

The outcome trimmed UNCW's lead in the series to 35-28.

Lebo said the Pirates would take Thursday off before focusing on a 2 p.m. game Sunday at James Madison (8-3). The Dukes have a six-game winning streak.

PAGE UPDATED 12/17/15 02:33 AM.

Copyright © Bonesville.net. All rights rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in any fashion. Information from Bonesville staff members, East Carolina University, Conference USA and other sources was used in composing and/or compiling the articles and data on this site. This site is editorially independent and is not affiliated with East Carolina University or Conference USA. View Bonesville.net's privacy policy. For advertising or other information, e-mail editor@bonesville.net.