
Pirates Fall At No. 17 Houston
January 23, 2019 | Men's Basketball
HOUSTON – A barrage of first half 3s helped No. 17 Houston win its fourth straight game 94-50 over ECU at Fertitta Center Wednesday night.
The Cougars (19-1, 6-1 American) buried 11-of-15 first half attempts outside the arc, while they made just 6-of-16 inside the 3-point area. Each of their first five field goals came from outside the 3-point arc as they built a 10-point lead in the first nine minutes.
ECU (8-10, 1-5) closed the gap to six on layup by Isaac Fleming, then Houston scored 13 unanswered to lead by 19, 34-15, with just over five minutes left in the half. The Cougars led by 23 at halftime, 49-26.
"I thought the first nine or 10 minutes we played very good," Pirate head coach Joe Dooley said. "Then it was like SMU again. Once it got going sideways, it went sideways and we couldn't get back into it.
"We're not a team that can simply lineup and make individual plays. We've got to play with each other and set each other up, If we don't we'll have problems and tonight we tried to do too much stuff on our own."
Houston then scored the first 16 points of the second half as its lead swelled to 40 in the first eight minutes of the second half.
The Cougars finished 16-of-24 (.667) from beyond the 3-point arc and shot 51.8 percent (29-of-56) overall. They out-rebounded ECU by 22, while holding it to 32.2 percent shooting (20-62).
The Cougars placed five players in double figures led by Armoni Brooks, who dropped 17 points on 5-of-7 shooting outside the 3-point arc. Nate Hinton scored 13 points, Corey Davis and Cedrick Alley each added 12 with Fabian White netting 11.
"They're a top 15 team," Dooley said. "They've got depth, they're athletic, they're experienced, They know exactly what they want to do and how they want to do it, and tonight they did it."
Seth LeDay led the Pirates with 13 points and Fleming added 11.
"Isaac played terrific," Dooley stated. "He played to win. I thought his effort was outstanding. He played like it mattered and when things went sideways, he stayed in it. He was one of the few tonight that competed like he was capable of."
ECU freshman Jayden Gardner, the conference's leading scorer, was held under double figures for the first time since the second game of the season, netting just eight points and playing only 25 minutes.
ECU returns to the hardwood Saturday, Jan. 26, against USF at 4 p.m. inside Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum.
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The Cougars (19-1, 6-1 American) buried 11-of-15 first half attempts outside the arc, while they made just 6-of-16 inside the 3-point area. Each of their first five field goals came from outside the 3-point arc as they built a 10-point lead in the first nine minutes.
ECU (8-10, 1-5) closed the gap to six on layup by Isaac Fleming, then Houston scored 13 unanswered to lead by 19, 34-15, with just over five minutes left in the half. The Cougars led by 23 at halftime, 49-26.
"I thought the first nine or 10 minutes we played very good," Pirate head coach Joe Dooley said. "Then it was like SMU again. Once it got going sideways, it went sideways and we couldn't get back into it.
"We're not a team that can simply lineup and make individual plays. We've got to play with each other and set each other up, If we don't we'll have problems and tonight we tried to do too much stuff on our own."
Houston then scored the first 16 points of the second half as its lead swelled to 40 in the first eight minutes of the second half.
The Cougars finished 16-of-24 (.667) from beyond the 3-point arc and shot 51.8 percent (29-of-56) overall. They out-rebounded ECU by 22, while holding it to 32.2 percent shooting (20-62).
The Cougars placed five players in double figures led by Armoni Brooks, who dropped 17 points on 5-of-7 shooting outside the 3-point arc. Nate Hinton scored 13 points, Corey Davis and Cedrick Alley each added 12 with Fabian White netting 11.
"They're a top 15 team," Dooley said. "They've got depth, they're athletic, they're experienced, They know exactly what they want to do and how they want to do it, and tonight they did it."
Seth LeDay led the Pirates with 13 points and Fleming added 11.
"Isaac played terrific," Dooley stated. "He played to win. I thought his effort was outstanding. He played like it mattered and when things went sideways, he stayed in it. He was one of the few tonight that competed like he was capable of."
ECU freshman Jayden Gardner, the conference's leading scorer, was held under double figures for the first time since the second game of the season, netting just eight points and playing only 25 minutes.
ECU returns to the hardwood Saturday, Jan. 26, against USF at 4 p.m. inside Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum.
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Team Stats
ECU
HOU
FG%
.323
.518
3FG%
.091
.667
FT%
.727
.833
RB
25
47
TO
10
12
STL
8
4
Game Leaders
Players Mentioned
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Inside Pirate Athletics (Feb. 26, 2024)
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ECU Presser vs Charlotte
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