By By BRIAN HAINES, Brian@wdnweb.com, Sports Writer
GREENVILLE — The Pirates improved to 2-0 under first-year coach Jeff Lebo as they were able to push past Campbell 76-63 on Saturday despite not being able to play start point guard Brock Young (knee) or senior center Chad Wynn (foot) who did not play due to injuries.
East Carolina (2-0) came out of halftime holding a 29-25 lead, but quickly expanded its advantage to 42-29 less than five minutes into the second session thanks to a 13-4 run that was highlighted by two Jamar Abrams three pointers and an old fashioned three-point play by Corvonn Gaines.
From that point on the Pirates were able to consistently keep the Camels at distance en route to their second straight win.
East Carolina sizzled from downtown as it made 11 of its 23 three point attempts as it was led by Jontae Sherrod who shot 4-of-7 from behind the arc to net a game-high 21 points.
Gaines, who ran the point in Young’s absence, scored 11 points while handing out five assists and racking up six steals.
Looking to fill out his depleted starting lineup, Lebo tabbed Erin Straughn to fill a vacancy and it paid off as he was second on the team in scoring with 12 points and pulled down a team-best six rebounds for the Pirates.
“I thought it was an excellent win for our team,” Lebo said. “It was going to be interesting seeing how our team come out to play, right before the game we found out we weren’t going to have Brock and knew we weren’t going to have Chad and we are already down (Daquan) Joyner in the post.”
Young, ECU’s all-time assist leader, had knee surgery to repair a meniscus tear during the preseason, while Wynn hurt his foot in the season opener against Erskrine.
Lebo said leaving Young out of the lineup was game time decision.
“We thought we would have him, he went through most of practice yesterday,” Lebo said. “At shoot around today it was just sore and tender so we had to keep him out. I don’t know what his status will be. He will get looked at tomorrow and we will see how he feels and go from there.”
The remaining Pirates did their best to pick up the slack and get revenge for last year’s 74-68 road loss to Campbell (0-2).
“It feels good to get them back,” Gaines said. “They stormed the court last year and had a party on us at their court but we knew eventually they would have to come to Minges (Coliseum).”