On Monday night, the winless Florida A&M Rattlers came into Minges Coliseum hungry for their first win and it showed, as they brought a 29-27 lead over ECU into halftime. But after the first half, which ECU head coach Jeff Lebo described as “dead”, the more talented Pirates stormed away with 48 second half points and a decisive 75-57 win.

But talent alone proved to be not enough for the Pirates (6-6) to cruise over the Rattlers (0-11) as ECU’s second half surge was attributed to its effort level, especially down low from athletic forward Michel Nzege (14 points, 7-for-8, 6 rebounds).

“We played slow in the first half, but we did a good job stepping our game up to pull out the win,” said Ngeze. “Coach Lebo kicked us in the butt (at halftime) and we won the game because we executed in the second half.”

Sophomore Caleb White added that Florida A&M’s zone gave the Pirates problems with their playing pace early in the game.

“Their zone helped slow the pace down,” he said. “We were trying to figure out where to attack and where our shots would come from.”

Lebo sped up the pace in the second half on defense rather than offense however, as the Pirates forced 12 turnovers after halftime. The ECU, 29-4 points-off-turnovers advantage was largely the difference in the game. Nine different Pirates recorded a steal Monday.

“The press got us going in the second half,” said Lebo. “The game was too slow (in the first half). We wanted to get more possessions in the second half and get our energy going more; the press did that for us.”

White, coming off his worst offensive performance of the season in a loss at UNC Wilmington (3 points, 1-for-8) got back on track Monday, shooting 7-for-15 and totaling 19 points – an ECU best. The Pirates scored 21 more points in the second half than in the first and White followed the pattern, shooting 6-for-11 in the second half for 15 of his 19 points.

ECU’s guards had a rough night from the floor as Terry Whisnant, Antonio Robinson, Prince Williams, Lance Tejada, B.J. Tyson and Paris Roberts-Campbell combined to make only 10 out of 32 shots, and the Pirates made just seven of 25 three pointers.

17 total field goals, however, from forwards White, Nzege and Michael Zangari proved to be enough for ECU. The Pirates also enjoyed a 12-for-16 performance from the free throw line and a 36-34 rebounding advantage to carry them into a five-day break over Christmas week.

“[This win] will make Christmas great,” said White. “You don’t have to go home hanging your head on the ride home. People will say, ‘good game’ instead of ‘what happened?'”

Next up for ECU is 4-8 UNC Greensboro on Sunday. The contest will mark the first time the Pirates will play back-to-back games at home in over a month.