East Carolina University
3-3
Stetson
2-4
Balanced Attack Leads East Carolina To Win Over Stetson
November 27, 2015 | Men's Basketball
From wire and staff reports
LAS VEGAS - Sophomore B.J. Tyson led a trio of Pirates in double figures with 22 points as East Carolina led wire-to-wire and cruised to a 93-73 victory over Stetson in its final game of the Continental Tire Las Vegas Invitational Friday at Orleans Arena, ending a three-game losing streak.
Tyson added five rebounds and four steals, while he was 7-of-10 shooting from the field and made three 3-pointers as ECU (3-3) shot 54 percent overall and 10 of 21 from beyond the arc. Caleb White and Kentrell Barkley added 14 points apiece, while Barkley pulled down eight rebounds.
"B.J. got off to a terrific start," ECU Head Coach Jeff Lebo said. "Last two games I thought he really shot the ball well, hopefully that will help his confidence. We finally got Caleb going in the second half."
The Pirates opened the game on an 13-4 run and had more points in the first 10 minutes than they did either half Thursday against Little Rock, leading 25-17 with 9:45 to play in the opening stanza. White scored the game's first points by burying a 3 before Michel Nzege converted a layup for a 5-0 lead and the Pirates were off and running.
Barkley's 3-pointer with 9:45 left in the first half sparked a 8-0 run in which he scored six points bookended by an old fashion three-point play to give the Pirates a 30-17 lead. The lead increased to 16 on layup by Prince Williams.
After scoring 46 points in the loss to Little Rock on Thanksgiving Day, East Carolina led Stetson 47-34 at halftime and never allowed the Hatters to get closer than 10 points the remainder of the contest.
The Pirates connected on 17 of 28 (.607) field goal attempts in the first half and made 6 of 10 shots outside the arc, scoring 13 points off seven Stetson turnovers.
"We really shot it well, a lot different than we did yesterday," Lebo said. "We flowed better and got out in transition. I thought we had a good team win, all around. We got good play off the bench and rebounded the ball well."
ECU extended its lead to 19 in the first five minutes following intermission and pushed its lead to 28, 73-45, with 10 minutes remaining before the Hatters cut the final margin to 20.
ECU had a very balanced attack with seven players scoring seven or more points with three Pirates distributing four or more assists, led by Prince Williams' six. ECU out-rebounded Stetson by 16 and out-scored the Hatters in the paint, 42-24.
"We did a good job of not settling for 3s," Lebo said. "We did a god job of getting the ball into the painted area with some post-ups into our bigs and driving the ball to the basket."
Stetson (2-4) was led by Luke Doyle with 16 points. Brian Pegg scored 14 points with seven boards while Divine Myles had 12 points with four steals and Leo Goodman added 11 points.
The Pirates begin a two-game homestand on Tuesday against Florida Atlantic before hosting USC Upstate, led by former Pirate boss Eddie Payne, on Friday. Both games are set for 7 p.m. tipoffs.
