East Carolina University
(14-18)
UCF
(12-18)
East Carolina Advances with OT Win Over UCF
March 12, 2015 | Men's Basketball
HARTFORD, Conn. -- B.J. Tyson had 19 points, Marshall Guilmette scored 18 and No. 8 seed East Carolina outlasted ninth-seeded Central Florida for an 81-80 overtime win in the American Athletic Conference tournament's opening game on Thursday.
Guilmette made the go-ahead 3-pointer with 4:33 left in overtime and Caleb White added a jumper at 3:31 to give the Pirates (14-18) all the points they would need at 81-78.
Kasey Wilson pulled UCF (12-18) within one on a pair of free throws. But East Carolina had three offensive rebounds and one steal to hold UCF to just two missed field-goal attempts for the final 3:05.
ECU jumped to a 30-13 lead after falling behind 7-2. The Pirates started just 1 of 7 shooting, but then caught fire making seven of their next 10 shots. Guilmette, White and Paris Roberts-Campbell made consecutive 3s as part of a 13-0 ECU run that gave ECU a 26-11 lead, forcing UCF to call two timeouts in less than a minute.
UCF methodically whittled down the lead and pulled within eight at halftime, 38-30.
The Knights trimmed the Pirates' lead to three during the first five minutes of the half, but White buried a 3 with 11:39 to play to push the lead back to double figures.
Nzege gave ECU a seven-point lead, 75-68, with 3:39 to play, but the Knights forced overtime by closing on an 8-1 run capped by Wilson's putback with 4.7 seconds left.
The Pirates had a chance to avoid overtime, bur Roberts-Campbell's 3 from the top of key rattled in and out.
Freshman B.J. Taylor led UCF with 22 points, while Adonys Henriquez added 17.
ECU will face top-seeded SMU on Friday at noon in the quarterfinals. The game will be televised on ESPN2.
