Herrion's Pirates Stay Unbeaten By Topping Tribe
November 30, 2002 | Men's Basketball
GREENVILLE, N.C. -- East Carolina held William & Mary to 18 points and 21.4 percent shooting from the floor in the second half en route to a 66-51 victory here Saturday night. The Pirates limited William & Mary to just six second half field goals, while forcing seven turnovers.
With the victory East Carolina improves to 3-0 overall for the second time in three years, while William & Mary falls to 0-4.
"I addressed the players at halftime about their energy on defense", said Pirate head coach Bill Herrion. "They responded by holding William & Mary to 18 points in the second half."
With the game tied at 33-all to start the second half, ECU scored the first seven points of the half and never trailed following intermission. Senior Travis Holcomb-Faye scored the first four points of the half and then became the school's all-time leader in assists with a pass to Moussa Badiane that he finished with a dunk.
Holcomb-Faye entered the game four assists shy of surpassing Tony Parham's career mark of 330 assists and dished out five helpers to move in front of Parham by two.
The Pirates kept up the defensive pressure throughout and scored 27 points off 14 turnovers for the game, while committing just two turnovers after halftime.
ECU took its largest lead of the game, 56-42, with 5:40 remaining on a three-point field goal by Jonathan Moore. However, the Tribe mounted a late charge and cut the Pirate lead to six, 57-51, with 2:12 left in regulation.
East Carolina answered William & Mary's run with a one of its own, scoring the game's final nine points.
Junior Derrick Wiley led the way for ECU scoring a team-high 14 points. Holcomb-Faye added an additional 12 points, while junior Gabriel Mikulas fell one rebound shy of a double-double as he finished with 10 points and nine rebounds.
Junior Adam Hess and sophomore Thomas Viglianco each scored a game-high 15 points for William & Mary.
ECU will put its unbeaten record on the line this Tuesday when the Pirates travel to Radford for a 7 p.m. contest.
