Pirates Drop Road Tilt At Wichita State

Tuesday, March 5

Wichita, KS

9 PM

East Carolina University

10-19 (3-14AAC)

Wichita State

16-13 (9-8AAC)

ECU

Wichita St.

March 05, 2019 | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

WICHITA, Kan. --- Seniors Markis McDuffie and Samajae Haynes-Jones walked off the floor at Charles Koch Arena for the final time with a 72-55 win over ECU Tuesday night.

Appropriately, McDuffie led the Shockers (16-13, 9-8 The American) with 16 points. Asbjorn Midtgaard added 11 points and Dennis Dexter also scored double digits, netting 10 points. Haynes-Jones added seven points for the Shockers, who have won eight of their last 10 and moved into sixth-place in the conference.

The Pirates (10-19, 3-14) got out of the gates quickly and scored the game's first four points, but Wichita State countered with an 18-5 run capped by a thunderous dunk from Dennis to give the Shockers an 18-9 lead 10 minutes into the contest.

WSU extended its lead to 14, 32-18, just before the under-4 first half media timeout and led 34-22 at the break after it converted 11-of-17 free throw attempts prior to halftime while the Pirates attempted just two foul shots.

Neither team shot the ball well from the field prior to halftime with ECU making just 28.1 percent of its attempts and WSU converting just 33.3 percent of it shots.

However during the early stages of the second half, both teams shot the basketball at a high percentage as each team had over a 55 field goal shooting percentage during the first 12 minutes of the frame. ECU finished the game shooting 35.6 percent and Shockers shot 39.1 percent.

WSU stretched its lead to 17 in the first five minutes after halftime, but the resilient Pirates continued to battle from behind and pulled within 11 with 9:40 to play.

Once again the Shockers had an answer for ECU's run and never allowed the Pirates to cut their lead under double digits.

The Shockers' lead reached 19 as McDuffie converted a 3-point play before WSU head coach Gregg Marshall allowed the senior to exit with 1:49 remaining.

ECU senior Isaac Fleming led the Pirates with 17 points and sophomore Shawn Williams added 12. Freshman Rico Quiton recorded his first double-double with a career-high 11 points and 10 rebounds.

With the loss, the Pirates are locked into the No. 11 seed at the 2019 American Athletic Conference tournament, which begin March 14 at FedExForum in Memphis.

ECU will close out the regular season Sunday, March 10, against UConn at 2 p.m. inside Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum.