East Carolina Survives Scare From Mount Olive, 77-75
December 08, 2013 | Men's Basketball
Dec. 08, 2013
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![]() East Carolina |
Greenville, N.C. ? Attendance: 3,827 | ![]() 75 Mount Olive |
GREENVILLE, N.C. - Seven days ago, a blocked shot on a game-tying scoring attempt with seconds remaining sent East Carolina home with a two-point loss at the hands of UNC Wilmington. A week later, freshman Brandan Stith blocked a game-tying shot attempt to seal the Pirates' 77-75 victory over Mount Olive Sunday afternoon at Minges Coliseum.
Four ECU players scored in double figures, led by Akeem Richmond with 16 points. Caleb White added 12 more while Antonio Robinson and Stith added 15 and 13, respectively, off the bench.
White and Stith each pulled down nine rebounds, while Paris Roberts-Campbell dished out a team-high five assists to complement his eight points and four boards.
Mount Olive's Dontrell Brite led all scorers with 30 points on 12-of-20 (.600) shooting to go with four rebounds and two assists, while Kendall Hargrove recorded a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds.
The two sides each exchanged a pair of baskets following the opening tip to level the score, 4-4, at the 17:07 mark, but the Pirates used a 10-0 run, capped by a Michael Zangari layup with 12:11 remaining, to generate the game's first and only double-digit lead of the game.
Mount Olive countered with a 15-7 run of its own and cut its deficit to just two with 8:09 left in the half, before the Pirates pushed their lead back to six with just over four minutes remaining. The Trojans fought back to take their first lead of the game since scoring on their first possession of the game at 37-36 with 1:19 remaining, before taking a 39-38 advantage into the intermission.
ECU shot 11-of-27 (.407) from the field and 16-of-22 (.727) from the free throw line, but failed to connect on a 3-pointer in seven attempts. Mount Olive shot 15-of-33 (.455) in the half, 3-of-11 (.273) from beyond the arc and a perfect 6-of-6 from the foul line.
The tempo of the second half began with a very fast tempo, as the first media timeout did not come until the 12:36 mark, after the Pirates regained the lead, 52-48.
After a layup by Stith put ECU ahead by three with 11:06 left to play, Brite scored Mount Olive's next nine points in the midst of a 9-2 run to give the Trojans a 60-56 advantage at the 9:45 mark.
Within the subsequent minute to Brite's scoring spree, Stith responded with four-straight points for ECU to tie the game at 60 - the first of five ties over the final 8:35.
The final tie came at 75-all with 1:19 to go after Richmond missed the first of two free throws. After getting a defensive stop on the other end, Roberts-Campbell made the first, but missed the second of two free throws to put ECU ahead by one with 39 seconds remaining. Robinson drew a charge on the Pirates' next defensive stand, before hitting the second of two free throws to increase the lead to 77-75 with six ticks on the clock.
Overall, the game had 15 total lead changes and the score was tied on 13 different occasions.
The Pirates finished the day shooting 22-of-51 (.431) overall and 31-of-46 (.674) from the free throw line, despite going just 2-of-16 (.125) from 3-point range. Mount Olive shot 27-of-61 (.443) from the field, 6-of-7 (.353) from three and 15-of-20 (.750) from the free throw stripe.
The Pirates will take six days off for final exams before they return to action Saturday, Dec. 14, against North Carolina A&T at 5 p.m. inside Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum.