East Carolina University
Memphis
East Carolina Falls to Memphis, 70-59
February 08, 2012 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 8, 2012
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| Memphis 70, East Carolina 59 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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From wire and staff reports
GREENVILLE, N.C. -- Chris Crawford scored 16 points and Wesley Witherspoon recorded a double-double to push Memphis past East Carolina 70-59 on Wednesday night.
Will Barton added 15 points, while Witherspoon scored 12 and pulled down 11 boards for the Tigers (17-7, 7-2 Conference USA), who have won back-to-back games and five of six. That only loss in their recent slate of games came against Southern Miss on Feb. 1, the first-place team in the conference.
Miguel Paul paced ECU with 13 points and a game-high eight assists, while Darrius Morrow and Shamarr Bowden chipped in 12 and 10 points, respectively. Maurice Kemp pulled down a team-high 11 rebounds.
The teams were knotted up at 20-20 with 8:49 left in the first half after a follow dunk by Kemp. The Tigers seized control behind a 17-5 spurt, which staked them to a 37-25 halftime lead out-scoring the Pirates 24-12 in the paint in the opening stanza.
ECU was able to keep it close early with hot shooting. The Pirates connected on 8-of-13 attempts from the field to begin the contest including a pair of treys from Erin Straughn, but did not make a field goal the final 3:36 of the half.
Memphis pushed its lead to 46-30 early in the second half after an old-fashioned 3-point play from Crawford with 18:06 remaining.
Following a flagrant foul on Memphis' Joe Jackson, Bowden sank a pair of free throws and Paul buried a 3 from the top of key capping a stretch of 10 unanswered points by the Pirates, cutting the Tigers' advantage to six, 46-40.
Jackson ended the Pirates' run with a pair of made free throws and Tarik Black extended the Tigers' lead back to double figures with 12:05 left.
Robert Sampson made a short jumper on the ensuing possession that cut the deficit to 50-42, but the Pirates would get no closer as Memphis held on for the victory.
Memphis shot 50-percent from the field in the final 20 minutes, while it held ECU to just 12-of-34. The Pirates finished the contest 22-of-57, a 38.6-percent clip, compared to 46.7-percent by the Tigers (28-60).
After playing its last three games at home, the Pirates will hit the road this weekend as they travel to Marshall on Saturday, Feb. 11 for a 7 p.m. EST clash with the Thundering Herd. The game will be televised throughout eastern North Carolina on WITN.
