By By BRIAN HAINES, Sports Writer
By BRIAN HAINES
Sports Writer
GREENVILLE — The final score may indicate an East Carolina blowout over the University of Virginia-Wise, but that’s only because the Pirates picked up the slack in the final seven minutes of the game using a 21-7 run to secure a 77-60 win in their season opener Friday Night at Minges Coliseum.
The Highland Cavaliers managed to stay within five points of the Pirates for most of the night thanks to some key three-pointers by Pance Kecev (15 points) Travis Berry (16 points) and cut ECU’s lead to 56-53 with 6:30 left in the second half after a Josh Jordan bucket. However, Wise would only muster seven points for the rest of the game.
East Carolina (1-0) finally snapped out of preseason mode thanks in large part to two Brock Young three-pointers within a minute span, the second giving the team a 66-55 lead with 4:30 left to play.
Young looked sharp all night and tallied a game-high nine assists to go along with his 12 points and six rebounds.
Junior center Chad Wynn took advantage of a UVa.-Wise (2-2, NAIA) roster that sported no player taller than 6-6 to earn his first career double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds in only 19 minutes.
East Carolina coach Mack McCarthy used a large portion of the game to try out different player combinations. The Pirates coach eluded to the fact that his tinkering might have played a role in his team not pulling away from Wise earlier.
“I tied their hands behind their back a little bit,” McCarthy said. “We played only man-to-man, we didn’t shot anything else. We didn’t run any set plays, and we are kind of a set play type of team, other than in transition.”
With that being said, McCarthy still did not excuse his team’s sluggish start and cited the Pirates’ 19 turnovers as the primary culprit.
“My big concern about the night was the decision making with the basketball,” McCarthy said. “Nineteen turnovers does not reflect how many times we mishandled the basketball or took questionable shots when we had three-on-two, or two-on-one situations.”
The Pirates ended the game with five players scoring in double figures. After Wynn’s 16 and Young’s 12, Darrius Morrow added 14 (seven rebounds), Daquan Joyner posted 12 points and Jontae Sherrod tallied 10.
Wynn had a big first half as he scored 12 of his points and pulled down six of his boards before the break. The center only played seven minutes in the second half, and was happy to notch his first career double-double.
“I’ve just been working hard over the summer and during the preseason,” Wynn said. “I’ve worked on rebounding a lot, and my offensive skills during the summer … I’ve been looking for that double-double since I’ve been here and I’m pretty gland I got it.”
East Carolina held a 24-4 points in the paint advantage in the first half, but went into the break with only a slim 31-25 lead.
The Pirates out-scored Wise 52-18 in the paint for the game.
After Wynn held the Pirates together in the first half, Young guided them through the second where he scored 10 of his 12 points. The junior guard also gave the Minges’ faithful something to cheer about when he spear-headed a three-on-two fastbreak which ended with a no-look lob pass to Jamar Abrams (7 points) for a thunderous dunk to make the score 39-30 with four minutes into the second half.
Young credited the Cavaliers for playing hard, but said the reason why the game was so close throughout the first 30 minutes was lack execution on ECU’s part.
“They were getting a lot of open shots, they were doing a good job with that. But it was more on us not getting through the screens and not communicating on defense,” Young said. “After we started communicating we ran away with it.”
All throughout the preseason McCarthy has stressed the importance of improving team defense and said after the game there is still plenty of work to be done in that area.
“There were some individual mistakes but for the most part we did cut off some penetration,” McCarthy said. “We gave up a few too many second shots, didn’t know our individual assignments a few times; that bothers me. We need to talk better. This is the best talking team we’ve had since I been here, but we can still do it better.”
The Pirates will need to step up their defense a notch on Sunday when they face Wake Forest at 2 p.m. in the Greensboro Coliseum.