ECU Rolls In The Second Half To Beat Presbyterian

Thursday, December 22

Greenville, N.C.

7 p.m.

East Carolina University

8-5

Presbyterian

4-7

Presbyterian

East Carolina

Photo by: Rob Goldberg

December 22, 2016 | Men's Basketball

Box Score

GREENVILLE, N.C. (AP) -- Kentrell Barkley scored 12 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to help lead East Carolina to a 76-56 win over Presbyterian on Thursday night, snapping a three-game losing streak.

B.J. Tyson hit 6 of 12 from the floor for 12 points and Caleb White and Jeremy Sheppard added 11 apiece for East Carolina (8-5). Raquan Wilkins added 10 points with seven boards.

The Pirates took control underneath, hauling down 40 rebounds while Presbyterian grabbed 31. East Carolina also scored 30 points in the paint while limiting the Blue Hose to 18. The Pirates garnered 19 points off turnovers and had 13 fast break points. Presbyterian got just six points off turnovers and picked up zero fast-break points.

White drilled a trey to start the second half and the Pirates sprinted to a 50-35 lead at the 12:45 mark.

Darius Moore hit 4 of 5 from distance to lead Presbyterian (4-7) with 16 points.

IT'S A GAME OF RUNS

After yielding the game's opening basket, ECU went on a 17-2 run that included 11 straight points. The Pirates took their first double digit lead of the game at 15-5 with 12:26 remaining on a pair of free throws by Wilkins.
Presbyterian put together a 15-7 spurt to pull within two, 24-22, with five minutes to play in the opening half.
ECU scored the final six points of the first half, including the last four by Hughes, to take a 33-25 lead into the halftime break.
The Pirates opened the half on a 13-6 run take a 15-point lead, 46-31, capped by an alley-oop dunk from Sheppard to Tyson.
East Carolina used a 13-5 spurt over a span of 4:12 to take its largest lead of the game at 63-40.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

ECU improved to 4-0 this season when Barkley, Tyson and White all scored double figures.
Five players scored double figures for ECU for the second time this season. They also had five double figure scorers against Charlotte.
The Pirates made a season-high 22 free throws and made a season-high 81.5 percent of its foul shots (22-27). The last time ECU shot 80 percent from the foul line and made at least 20 free throws was Dec. 22, 2015 against SC State (22-26, .846).
ECU out-rebounded its opponent for the 10^th time in 13 games this season and first time in four games.
Sheppard made his first start as an ECU Pirate. He scored double figures for the fifth consecutive game, the longest active streak on the team. Sheppard also posted a season-high three steals.
Barkley scored double figures for the first time in five games and for the seventh time this season. He posted his third double-double of the season and seventh of his career.
White made at least three 3-pointers in a game for the 35^th time in 109 career games played.
ECU's true freshman trio of Sheppard (11), Wilkins (10) and Hughes (9) combined for 30 points.

WILLIAMS DISMISSED

Senior Clarence Williams has been dismissed from the team Coach Lebo announced prior to the game. Williams started 45 games for the Pirates the past two seasons.

QUOTABLE

"I thought we did some really good things offensively. We made the right plays tonight and that's the most important thing. As a coach, I thought we moved the ball very well. We didn't shoot great, but we made the right plays and we spread it out, we drove it well, got to the free throw line and shot well from the free throw line." – ECU Head Coach Jeff Lebo
"I feel like the game today we just played together, we communicated; we did a lot of good things today." – Sophomore Kentrell Barkley

NEXT TIP-OFF

East Carolina returns to the court Dec. 28 to open American Athletic Conference play against USF inside Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum. Tip-off is slated for 7 p.m.