Pirates Outmuscle the Golden Eagles 63-50
March 06, 2004 | Men's Basketball
HATTIESBURG, Miss. (AP) -- Derrick Wiley scored 15 points to lead East Carolina to a 63-50 win Saturday night over Southern Mississippi, a day after the Golden Eagles' coach resigned with at least two games to play.
James Green stepped down Friday after eight seasons with Southern Miss and assistant Jeff Norwood was named interim coach. Southern Miss (13-14, 6-10) begins play in the Conference USA tournament next week in Cincinnati
Green, who was C-USA coach of the year in 2000-2001, watched the game from the first row of seats behind the Golden Eagles bench.
The Pirates (13-13, 5-11) have won four of five and improved to 5-0 against the Golden Eagles.
Charles Gaines scored 21 for Southern Miss, but had just five rebounds. He averages 10.5.
East Carolina held the Golden Eagles without a field goal for an 11-minute stretch of the second half.
After Gaines hit a jumper with 17:53 to play, cutting the lead to 31-30, East Carolina went on a 24-7 run over the next 12 minutes.
Southern Miss shot 31 percent for the game and hit just 3-of-24 from behind the 3-point line.
Frank Robinson and Mike Cook both scored 12 points for East Carolina, which shot 54 percent from the floor and outrebounded Southern Miss 40-32.
