Pirates take one on four-game road swing
Published 2:43 pm Saturday, November 28, 2015
![RONNIE MOORE | CONTRIBUTED LEADING THE WAY: Senior Prince Williams drives around a Charlotte defender earlier in the season. He and the Pirates struggled on their four-game road swing.](https://www.thewashingtondailynews.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/12/2015/11/WEBSPORTS_Pirates-take-one-on-four-game-road-swing.jpg)
RONNIE MOORE | CONTRIBUTED
LEADING THE WAY: Senior Prince Williams drives around a Charlotte defender earlier in the season. He and the Pirates struggled on their four-game road swing.
After opening up the season with consecutive wins at home, the East Carolina basketball team found less success on a four-game west coast swing this past week.
After dropping the first three games of the week at the Las Vegas Invitational, head coach Jeff Lebo and his team (3-3) knocked off a struggling Stetson squad Friday afternoon, 93-73.
B.J. Tyson had a breakout scoring game as he started to sink shots that weren’t falling for the sophomore earlier in the season. Tyson led the Pirates with 22 points on 7-of-10 shooting, including 3-of-5 from behind the three-point arc. ECU completely outmatched the Hatters in the rebounding game (39-23). Kentrell Barkley led the effort on the glass with eight.
ECU had its highest scoring output of the short season against Stetson, anchored by six first half three pointers and a 60.7 field goal percentage in the first half. Behind Tyson’s game-high in points fell Barkley and Caleb White, who each had 14 points. Stetson had a poor performance from the field with a 41.5 shooting percentage for the game.
The Pirates had a nearly polar opposite performance against Little Rock the night prior. ECU shot just 31 percent from the field while Little Rock sank just 26.3 percent of its shots. The Pirates turned the ball over 22 times and in a low-scoring game, Little Rock notched 17 points off those turnovers.
The Pirates outplayed the Trojans, but the second-half turnovers eventually tore down a 23-15 halftime lead. Tyson was the only Pirate in double figures with 12 points. White came off the bench and scored just three points in 21 minutes.
The Pirates struggled mightily last Monday against San Diego State (4-3) with a crushing 79-54 loss. ECU again had shooting problems. The Pirates converted just over 32 percent from the field. They were ice cold from the field in the first half (24 percent).
White had an uncharacteristically poor outing while shooting just 1-of-9 from the floor. The Aztecs had four players in double figures, led by Jeremy Hemsley and Winston Shepard with 16 points.
Just three days prior, ECU played No. 14 California to a two-point game with less than two minutes left before falling 70-62. Michael Zangari had his best game in over a year as the senior as he tied a career-high with 17 points. Zargari was shooting well early and made two three pointers to help his confidence. White dropped 15 points, but did not shoot well from outside (1-of-5).
The Pirates played slow and methodical on offense and turned the ball over just 10 times while forcing 15 by the Golden Bears.
Eventually, however, the size and strength of Cal was too much for the Pirates to handle. Ivan Rabb and Jaylen Brown combined for 30 points and 23 rebounds at the forward positions. The pair led Cal down the stretch and sent the ranked team past ECU and ended all hopes of a major upset.
ECU will return home Tuesday to face former Conference USA opponent Florida Atlantic (1-4)