Charlotte Escapes Minges with 71-66 Win
February 22, 2003 | Men's Basketball
GREENVILLE, N.C. -- Curtis Nash scored a game-high 21 points, including 19 in the second half, as Charlotte (11-13, 6-6) completed the season sweep of East Carolina (12-12, 3-10), 71-66, here Saturday night in Conference USA men's basketball action.
The two teams exchanged leads three times and were tied four times during the game's opening 5:36 before Charlotte went on a 16-4 run to take an eight-point advantage, 25-17. Demon Brown scored eight of his 11 first half points during the run. He finished with 20 points on the night, hitting 6-of-13 shots from three-point range.
The Pirates answered with a run of their own out-scoring the Niners 11-5 in the final five minutes to trim the halftime lead to two, 30-28.
Both teams once again exchanged leads at the start of the second half, before the Niners went on a five-minute 14-6 run, behind the three-point shooting of Nash and Brown to extend their lead to nine points, 63-54.
A Derrick Wiley four-foot jumper along with four points from Erroyl Bing helped the Pirates cut the lead down to two, 65-63, with 1:39 left in the game. However, clutch free throw shooting by the Niners sealed the victory as they went six-for-six from the line in the last 1:39.
Belton Rivers and Wiley led the Pirates with 15 points each. Rivers sank four three-point field goals to tie his career-high in that category. Bing scored 12 points and had 13 rebounds on the night, giving him his fifth double-double of the season. Travis Holcomb-Faye also scored double digits with 11 points.
On the night, the Pirates shot 45.8 percent from the field; marking the first time in 11 games the Pirates shot better than 40 percent from the floor. The last time was against the 49ers, in an 83-62 loss back on January 11th.
East Carolina will return to action Wednesday night February 26 against Cincinnati. Tip-off is scheduled for 8:00 p.m. eastern time.
Postgame Notes
Postgame Quotes
ECU Head Coach Bill Herrion
"I saw some spark tonight, some light. That is what we have been appealing to at ECU. The one thing I think that the program has
stood for since I have been here is win, lose, or draw, we play hard. We are just not playing as hard as we used to. I thought
tonight though we got it back a little. If this basketball team could figure out how to do that consistently, we might have a few more
wins."
"I am proud of their effort tonight. I am proud of kids that stepped on the court that had a jersey on. Approach DePaul that way and some other games along the line and we might have a few more wins. That is the way we are supposed to play."
"We just got beat by two really good perimeter players."
"I was really starting to question if we still had that fire in us. But again, it is the 24th game of the year and I just think if you are ever going to be a good basketball team, that is the effort we are supposed to give every night we step on the court."
Charlotte Head Coach Bobby Lutz
"We felt extremely fortunate to win here. It is an unbelievable place to play; the fans are terrific."
"I have a lot of respect for what Bill (Herrion) is doing. I think they are better than they were a year ago. I think the problem is in this division is that you can be better and not win more games because you are playing Louisville, Marquette, and Cincinnati twice."
"I think East Carolina is playing well. For us to come in here and win when we have been a little up and down is very impressive."
"We made a lot of mistakes late but Curtis Nash played well, Demon (Brown) hit some big shots, and Withers made a couple big free throws. Basically we escaped."
"It was a game that could have went either way. I thought both teams played extremely hard, nobody deserved to lose the game in terms of effort. It is kind of what you expect when you are playing an in-state rival in the same conference."
On play of senior Curtis Nash
"Curtis Nash has had an up and down year but the last few games as a senior he has really stepped up and is starting to play
more aggressively and more confidently."
"I think both teams will be better a year from now, but at the same time we both have to keep battling to get in the conference tournament. Anybody can beat just about anybody in this league as evidenced by them (East Carolina) beating Marquette earlier in the year. Marquette very well could win our league and they lost here. That just shows you the type of balance we have in this league."
