Pirates Come Up Short Against UConn On Senior Day

Sunday, March 10

Greenville, NC

2 PM

East Carolina University

10-20, 3-15

UConn

15-16, 6-12

UCONN

ECU

Photo by: Rob Goldberg

March 10, 2019 | Men's Basketball

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From wire and staff reports

GREENVILLE, N.C. -- Sophomore forward Tyler Polley scored 16 of his 19 points in the second half to lift Connecticut to a 82-73 win over ECU on Sunday in the American Athletic Conference season finale for both teams.

Josh Carlton added 20 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Huskies. Christian Vital scored 16 points, and Jalen Adams contributed 13 points and 12 assists.

Shawn Williams scored 20 points and senior Isaac Fleming scored 18 points with 11 assists on senior day for ECU (10-20, 3-15 American Athletic Conference.

Jayden Gardner added 11 points and grabbed nine rebounds for the Pirates, who said recognized Fleming along with seniors Addison Hill and Justice Obasohan in ceremony prior to the game.

"That's kind of the way you want to go out, swinging," said Hill, who scored a career-high 10 points. "I thought we played hard. We could've got some stops down the stretch, but I'm proud of the effort."

The Huskies (15-16, 6-12) won for the second time in three games by using excellent shooting to overcome some carelessness with the basketball (18 turnovers). UConn shot 62.5 percent from the field and 84.2 percent from the free throw line as Polley heated up from the field in the second half.

At 6-foot-8, he positioned himself on the wing in front of the Huskies' bench and elevated over the defense to make four of his five 3-point attempts in the second half. Meanwhile, Carlton used his 6-10 frame to battle for baskets and draw fouls inside.

"We had the three [bigs out with injury] and Jayden isn't very tall and Justice is 6-6," ECU Head Coach Joe Dooley said. "Dimitrije [Spasojevic] gave us good minutes. They did high-low us a couple of times and they did a good job with it. Carlton is force down there and he gave us a lot of problems."

Polley made a pair of 3-pointers from in front of the UConn bench within 1:40 to spark the Huskies to an 11-2 run that turned a 48-48 tie into a 59-50 lead with 10:39 remaining. ECU closed to within 64-62 on a Gardner basket with 5:36 remaining, but the Huskies scored the next five points to stretch their lead.

"It's a two-point game and we needed to play safer, make easier plays and make sure we're getting a shot every time. I thought, with the exception of turning the ball over, we were very efficient offensively. I thought we moved the ball pretty well and got where we wanted to get."

ECU returns to action Thursday, March 14, in the first round of the American Athletic Conference championship tournament.