East Carolina University
Southern Miss
ECU Rally Falls Short Against Southern Miss
February 17, 2009 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 17, 2009
From wire and staff reports
HATTIESBURG, Miss. -- R.L. Horton scored 20 points and Jeremy Wise added 17 points and 10 assists as Southern Miss held off East Carolina 69-59 on Tuesday night.
The Golden Eagles (14-11, 4-7 Conference USA), coming off a 72-47 loss to then-No. 8 Memphis on Saturday, ended a five-game skid with the win.
Southern Miss jumped out to an 11-0 lead while holding the Pirates (13-12, 5-7) scoreless for the first 5:39. ECU missed its first six shots before Sam Hinnant connected on a trey for the Pirates' first points.
"I know playing on the road is hard and very few people are winning games regularly on the road, but at the same time, we've got to show more progress," said Pirate head coach Mack McCarthy. "We played really good for a long period of time, but we played so bad early in the game.
"I don't have an answer for it. I wish I did. But we've got to approach (games) differently on the road."
The Pirates used a 12-2 spurt to close within five points, 27-22, with 4:17 left before halftime. However, Southern Miss closed the half on a 13-3 run to lead by 15, 40-25, at the intermission.
The Pirates opened the second half on a 17-7 run over the first 7:05, cutting the lead to 47-42. Chad Wynn scored eight of the Pirates' first 10 points to cut its deficit to nine, 44-35, with 16:29 left to play.
Hinnant sank his third 3-pointer of the game with 12:55 left to cut the Golden Eagles' lead to five. James Legan hit a another trey to pull the Pirates to within four at 51-47 and a Jamar Abrams free throw cut Southern Miss' lead to 53-50 with 8:28 left.
However, Wise's old-fashioned three-point play sparked the Golden Eagles on a 16-3 run over the next 7:11 to put the game away.
East Carolina had four players in double-figures, led by Legan and Hinnant with 12 points apiece. Abrams scored 11 points and grabbed six rebounds, and Wynn added 10 points and a team-high seven boards. Brock Young contributed nine points and seven assists.
