Pirates Rout Pepperdine, 80-58, in BCA Opener
November 17, 2004 | Men's Basketball
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) _ Mike Cook scored a career-high 21 points and freshman Josh King made three 3-pointers during a decisive run, helping East Carolina rally past Pepperdine 80-58 Wednesday in the first round of the BCA Invitational.
Tom Hammonds added 14 for the Pirates (1-0), who play the winner of the Siena-Oregon State game in the second round.
The Waves (0-1) shot only 21 percent in the second half and were outscored 47-19. Kingsley Costain led them with 15 points.
East Carolina took the lead for good on a 3-pointer by Tom Hammonds that started a 25-8 spurt midway through the second half. King added his shots from beyond the arc in a span of about 3 1/2 minutes, and Hammonds finished it off with an off-balanced 3-pointer just before the shot clock expired.
That made it 70-53, and Pepperdine never recovered.
The Pirates played without center Moussa Badiane, who was suspended for one game because he played in a summer league that wasn't certified by the NCAA. He has 239 blocked shots in his first three years, 53 behind the Conference USA record set by Cincinnati's Kenyon Martin.
The Waves made only 2 of 13 shots while falling behind. For the game, they were 4-of-22 on 3-pointers, had 17 turnovers, and didn't score in the final 3:24. Yakhouba Diawara, who averaged about 19 points a game last season, struggled with foul trouble and finished with only nine points.
East Carolina completed the victory with a flourish as Corey Rouse got loose for powerful dunks on consecutive possessions. After the second one, Pepperdine coach Paul Westphal called a timeout and cleared his bench.
Rouse scored 12 points and King had 11 points in his first game for the Pirates.
