Pirates Drop High Scoring Duel At UNCW

Tuesday, November 27

Wilmington, NC

7 PM

East Carolina University

UNCW

Photo by: John Crouch/UNCW Athletics

November 27, 2018 | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

WILMINGTON, N.C. --- Kai Toews had 16 point and 10 assists, while Jeantal Cylla scored 20 points and grabbed eight rebounds to lead UNCW to a 95-86 over ECU at Trask Coliseum Tuesday.

Freshman Jayden Gardner posted his third double-double of the season, matching his career-high of 30 points and snagging a game-high 15 rebounds to lead the Pirates (4-4). Junior Seth LeDay came off the bench to score 15 points and grab nine boards, while sophomore K.J. Davis added 13 and Shawn Williams had 12.

Gardner became the first freshman in school history to post multiple 30-point games after dropping 30 against Lamar earlier in the year. He also became the first ECU player to have multiple 30-point, 10-rebound games since Jim Gregory had four such games during the 1970-71 season.

"[Jayden] is a guy we're going to build around for the future," ECU Head Coach Joe Dooley said. "He's going to play a bulk of the minutes and we're going to continue to let him get better and better. He's got a bright future and he's a great building block for our program."

UNCW (4-4) rushed out to a 10-point lead, 22-12, in the first six minutes as it made 9-of-11 field goal attempts to start the game. The lead ballooned to 16, 37-21, as Jaylen Fornes buried consecutive 3-pointers. The Pirates cut their deficit in half with 2:05 remaining in the half using a 14-6 run.

Fornes' third 3 of the half gave the Seahawks' a 46-35 halftime lead as they shot 57.1 percent from the floor, made 7-of-13 3-point attempts and held ECU to 44.1 percent shooting and 2-of-7 from outside the arc.

The Seahawks doubled their lead in the first nine minutes out of the halftime locker room, making 9-of-12 shots to start the frame. UNCW lead by 24, 76-52, with nine minutes to play.

The Pirates put together a 21-7 run to pull within 10, 83-73, on a Davis 3-pointer with just over three minutes remaining and eventually cut their deficit to seven with 1:04 to play before UNCW iced the game making 7-of-8 free throws in the final minute.

UNCW finished the game shooting 52.7 percent overall and connected on 10-of-24 (.417) outside the arc. The Pirates connected on 41.7 percent of their field goal attempts, but only 3-of-16 from 3.

ECU, which came into the game shooting 67 percent at the foul line, made 23-of-27 free throw attempts for an 85.7 percent clip. They also did a much better job taking care of the basketball, committing a season-low 11 turnovers in the highest scoring game of the season.

"We've got guys that are young and shouldn't be out there yet," Dooley said. "The good thing is that they're getting minutes... I think they'll continue to get better as they get more minutes. We've got a long way to go to improve and get some things better."

ECU returns home to close out the fall semester this weekend, hosting Appalachian State Friday, Nov. 30 (7 p.m.) and Maryland-Eastern Shore Sunday, Dec. 2 (4 p.m.).