Pirates Drop Overtime Thriller To Richmond
November 14, 2007 | Men's Basketball
Nov. 13, 2007
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GREENVILLE, N.C. - For a second consecutive season, a grueling contest between East Carolina and Richmond went to overtime, and for the second straight year, Richmond claimed victory by posting a 67-65 win here Tuesday night.
A year ago, the Spiders defeated the Pirates 71-67 in an extra five-minute period at the Robbins Center in Richmond.
Down two with seven ticks left, the Pirates came down the floor with a shot to win, but senior Darrell Jenkins' 3 was off the mark and went out-of-bounds as time expired. Richmond's Ryan Butler made 1-of-2 foul shots to put the Spiders' up by two prior to the Pirates' final possession.
Richmond (2-2) went ahead to stay in overtime when Justin Harper drained the Spiders' final 3 of the night with 1:26 showing for a 64-63 lead. Two free throws by Kevin Anderson pushed the lead to three with 15 seconds to go.
Dan Geriot led the victorious Spiders with 22 points and 10 rebounds, while Oumar Sylla added 15.
Pirate sophomore Gabe Blair poured in a career-high 19 points and grabbed 12 boards for his fourth career-double-double and second against Richmond in as many games. Junior college transfer James Legan netted double figures for the first time as he scored 10 points.
ECU (1-1) trailed by seven as the second half started, but outscored Richmond 23-6 in the first 10 minutes of the second half to take a 10-point lead, 50-40, at the central point of the second half.
The comeback attempt caught full steam once the Geriot and Butler each picked up their third personal foul at the start of the second half and were forced to sit. Down by eight, the Pirates scored 10 straight points to take its first lead of the game, 38-36, on a 3-pointer by Darrell Jenkins.
The Spiders methodically chipped away at the Pirates' lead going on a 16-7 run to get within a point on a lay up by Sylla with 3:19 left. Richmond tied at the game at 61-all on two free throw by Geriot with 1:06 left in regulation. Both teams had chances to take the lead in the final minute, but neither converted.
The Spiders took and early 8-3 lead before going on a 13-5 run to push their advantage to 24-8 with10:16 remaining until intermission. ECU responded with an 11-4 run of its own to cut Richmond's lead to single digits as Legan scored eight points, including a pair of 3s, during the spurt.
The two teams combined for 56 total turnovers with each committing 26 miscues and oddly enough each scoring 26 points off turnovers.
The Pirates return to action Saturday night against Liberty. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. inside Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum.
