Late Second Half Surge Propels East Carolina Past Hampton, 82-73

Wednesday, November 16

Greenville, N.C.

7:00 P.M.

East Carolina University

3-0,0-0AAC

Hampton

1-2,0-0CAA

Hampton

East Carolina

Late Second Half Surge Propels East Carolina Past Hampton, 82-73

November 16, 2022 | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

GREENVILLE, N.C. – Quentin Diboundje scored a career-high 17 points on 5-of-8 shooting as East Carolina fought back from another double-digit deficit to defeat Hampton 82-73 on Wednesday night at Williams Arena in Minges Coliseum.

With the win, ECU earns its third straight 3-0 start and extends its winning streak against non-conference opponents at home to 18.

Javon Small continued his strong start to the season, tallying a final stat line of 17 points, six assists and five rebounds for the Pirates (3-0). Brandon Johnson recorded the third double-double of his career with 15 points and 12 rebounds.

Russell Dean led Hampton (1-2) with 23 points while Jordan Nesbitt and Marquis Godwin added 17 and 10 points respectively.

After an early 6-6 tie, ECU found themselves off to another sluggish first half start, trailing by as much as 11 in the first half and going into halftime trailing for the third straight time at 39-33.

Hampton extended its lead to as much as 17 on a layup by Luc Therrien at the 16:52 mark in the second half to make it 52-35. The Pirates attempted to chip away at the lead multiple times, but Hampton remained in control with a 70-57 lead at the 7:23 mark.

ECU put together another one of its second-half surges after a quick barrage of threes by Quentin Diboundje and Jaden Walker made it 70-68 and forced a Hampton timeout with 5:16 remaining. Diboundje's free throws gave ECU its first lead since the 17:37 mark of the first half and the Pirates closed the game on a 12-3 run to hold onto the lead and secure the win.

"I'm disappointed we put ourselves in that position again. We've got to figure it out," head coach Michael Schwartz said. "It's an energy thing right now. We've got to figure out the right rotation and we've got to find a way to not be in that position because this is not what we want to be doing. I'm very thankful and proud of the guys for coming back. We made some adjustments and it worked, but it's fool's gold right now."

The Pirates turned 16 Hampton turnovers into 18 points and held a 43-37 edge on the glass. ECU has outscored its opponents in the second half by a margin of 17 points through three games.

Up Next
East Carolina travels to Estero, Fla. to face Indiana State at 1:30 p.m. in the Gulf Coast Showcase on Monday, Nov. 21.