Barkley Leads ECU Into The Quarterfinals With Win Over Temple

Thursday, March 9

Hartford, Conn.

3:30 p.m.

East Carolina University

15-17

Temple

16-16

Team	1	2	F
East Carolina	36	44	80
Temple	29	40	69

Photo by: American Athletic Conference

Barkley Leads ECU Into The Quarterfinals With Win Over Temple

March 09, 2017 | Men's Basketball

Box Score Game Report

RESULT
Ninth-seeded East Carolina led wire-to-wire and defeated No. 8 seed Temple, 80-69, in the first round of the 2017 Frontier Communications American Basketball Championship at the XL Center Friday. The Pirates shot 51 percent from the floor and made 10-of-21 3s to score their second straight win over the Owls and advance to the quarterfinal for the second time in three years as an American Athletic Conference member.

TURNING POINT
After Obi Enechionyia made a 3-pointer to cut the Pirates' lead to six, Caleb White scored four consecutive points to give ECU a 10-point lead, 71-61, with 2:08 to play. The lead reached 15 when Elijah Hughes buried a 3 with a 29 seconds remaining.

ECU PLAYER-OF-THE-GAME
Kentrell Barkley scored a career-high 26 points and grabbed a career-best and single-game tournament record 16 rebounds for his ninth double-double of the season. It was his first 20-point game since dropping 20 on Mercer Nov. 25. Barkley was 9-of-17 overall from the field and 3-of-6 outside the arc. He played a game-high 38 minutes.

TEMPLE PLAYER-OF-THE-GAME
Enechionyia scored 20 points on 8-of-18 shooting, including 4-of-10 from 3 in 36 minutes of action. He also blocked a pair of shots and scored of 12 of his 20 points in the opening half.

GAME NOTES
The Pirates advanced in their conference tournament for the fifth time in the last seven years … ECU won a tournament game as a lower seed for the first time since defeating Rice as the No. 10 seed in the first round of the 2014 Conference USA tournament … Hughes scored 17 points and posted double figures for the first time since Jan. 25; It was the most points he's scored since netting 14 against UCONN at the XL Center on Jan. 22 … The Pirates held Temple to 37.7 percent shooting from the field after the Owls entered the game shooting 42.3 percent overall … ECU won the rebounding battle 38-35, scored 10 points off 10 Temple turnovers and had 15 points on 10 offensive rebounds ... ECU won its first season series from the Owls, 2-1 … The Pirates improved to 9-1 this season when scoring 80 or more points and 14-5 when holding its opponent under 70.

QUOTE-OF-THE-NIGHT
"For us, it isn't just a win simply for our basketball team, but a win for our program because we're going against an outstanding coach and an outstanding team with great tradition and is one of the best programs in the country. That's the way it is most nights when we line up in the league. Our guys are determined to throw themselves into the fire and into the mix with the programs that are elite in our conference." – ECU Acting Head Coach Michael Perry

NEXT GAME
East Carolina will play No. 1 seed SMU in the quarterfinals Friday at 12 noon on ESPN2. The two teams met in the quarterfinals in the 2015 American Basketball Championship with the top-seeded Mustangs posting a 74-68 win. SMU won both regular season meetings this year.