East Carolina University
Southern Miss
Pirates Drop Close Contest to Southern Miss
February 16, 2008 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 16, 2008
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GREENVILLE, N.C --- Courtney Beasley scored 17 points and Sai'Quon Stone added 16 to lead Southern Miss in a second-half rally that beat East Carolina 72-62 on Saturday.
The Golden Eagles (13-11, 5-5 Conference USA) trailed 36-32 at halftime after the Pirates (8-15, 2-8) shot 52.2 percent, including a 7-for-12 effort from 3-point range. In the second half, East Carolina made just four field goals out of 25 shots while Southern Miss took command behind 50 percent shooting.
"I thought for 30 minutes we executed our offense pretty well," said Pirate head coach Mack McCarthy. "In the second half we got shots that we wanted, but we just couldn't get anything in."
Gabe Blair's basket just 11 seconds into the second half extended East Carolina's halftime lead, but the Pirates didn't score their next field goal until a 3-pointer by Cory Farmer at 14:13. Still, East Carolina led 44-41.
Gio Bain's dunk with 14:02 left started a 23-7 run by the Golden Eagles, who turned a five-point deficit into an 11-point lead in a span of less than six minutes. USM took a 45-44 lead on Bain's jumper with 12:49 to go and never trailed again.
Jeremy Wise scored 12 points and R.L. Horton added 11 for the Golden Eagles.
Darrell Jenkins had 13 and James Legan 10 for East Carolina .
