ECU Picks Up Tough Win Over Gardner-Webb
December 19, 2003 | Men's Basketball
GREENVILLE, N.C. --- Despite not having played a game in the past nine days because of final exams, East Carolina was able to wipe off the rust and defeat Gardner-Webb 76-59 in front of a crowd of 4,583 inside Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum on Friday night.
With the victory the Pirates improved to 5-1 on the young season and remained a perfect 5-0 at home. Gardner-Webb lost for the fourth consecutive time and fell to 2-8 overall.
Gardner-Webb jumped out quickly to a five-point lead in the first five minutes before the Pirates went on a 15-2 run to seize control of the game and take a 22-14 lead with 9:17 left before halftime. ECU pushed its lead to 33-19 with 4:30 remaining in the period, but the Bulldogs closed the half with an 8-2 spurt of their own to close out the half.
ECU connected on 53.8 percent of its first half field goals (14-26) and forced 15 turnovers, but gave committed 11 turnovers itself and held just an eight-point lead at the break, 35-27.
The Bulldogs scored seven of the first nine points in the second half to pull within three, 37-34, when Chris Wiggins hit a three-pointer just 1:41 after intermission. ECU then buckled down on defense and didn't allow GWU to get any closer.
Erroyl Bing's three-point field goal capped an 8-0 spurt by ECU and put the Pirates back up by 11, 45-34, with 14:07 left. The Pirates never allowed the Bulldogs to get any closer than five points after that and held a comfortable 62-48 lead with 4:30 left in the game.
East Carolina led by as many as 19 late in the game before winning by the final margin of 17.
Senior Derrick Wiley led a trio of Pirates in double figures with 19 points. Junior Moussa Badiane poured in 17 points, while senior Gabriel Mikulas added 15. Brian Bender was Gardner-Webb's top scorer with 17 points, while Brendan Clowery chipped in 11.
ECU returns to action on Tuesday, Dec. 23, against Hampton. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.
Postgame Quotes
East Carolina Head Coach Bill Herrion
"We told our guys coming into the game that it is very difficult playing at this time of the year. It is holidays and the students are gone and it can be very quiet on campus. When the students go home it does take an edge off of the crowd but we do appreciate all the people that showed up tonight on a Friday night right before Christmas."
"I thought Erroyl Bing gave us a great lift off the bench in the second half."
"Derrick Wiley had a very good floor game. He did a good job defensively on Brian Bender. I know Bender had 17 points but Derrick held him to only six shots."
"They [Gardner-Webb] are a dangerous basketball team and we knew it coming in. I thought our defense was good, but they made a lot of tough 3-pointers."
"I thought Japhet had a nice floor game. He gave us a nice spark in the second half."
"We played seven guys double figure minutes tonight. We have to try and play more people. We need to get guys off the bench and ready to play."
"I thought Mike Cook gave us a very good lift in the first half. He has to work on his shot selection. He is a very confident and aggressive player and at some point when he is an upperclassman he is going to make a lot of tough shots."
Postgame notes
East Carolina improved to 5-0 at home this season and hasn't yielded 60 points in any of its five victories this season
The Pirates shot better than 50 percent (50.9) from the floor for the third time this season.
Senior Gabriel Mikulas moved into 19th place on the school's career scoring list. He has netted 1,015 points during his three-plus years as a Pirate.
Junior Moussa Badiane scored his 400th career point. His career total currently stands at 411.
East Carolina forced its opponent into 20 or more turnovers for the fourth time in six games.
