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'Bad break' for Mikulas, ECU
Bonesville.net staff report
©2004 Bonesville.net East Carolina starting power
forward Gabriel Mikulas broke his right arm in practice on Wednesday, which
likely concludes his playing career for the Pirates.
“He’s probably done,” said
somber-sounding ECU coach Bill Herrion on Thursday afternoon as his club
prepared to face No. 9 Louisville at 9 p.m. at Williams Arena at Minges
Coliseum (ESPN2). “He was playing defense and got tangled up on a screen. It
was just kind of a freak situation. You could tell right away it was bad. He
was in a lot of pain.”
Mikulas averaged 13.0 points,
6.8 rebounds and 27.0 minutes as a senior this season for ECU (8-4, 0-2
C-USA). Mikulas (6-foot-8, 235 pounds), from Cordoba, Argentina, moved into
a starting role as a freshman and holds the ECU career record for free
throws made with 381.
His 1,086 career points put
him 15th on ECU’s all-time list. Mikulas has 502 career rebounds.
Rookie of the year in the
Colonial Athletic Association as a freshman in 2000-01, Mikulas averaged
15.0 points and 5.7 rebounds.
He was suspended for the first
13 games of his sophomore season because he had played on a club team in his
native country which included some pro players, an NCAA violation.
Herrion recalled Mikulas’
recruiting visit to Greenville.
“He had long hair and
sunglasses,” Herrion said. “I wasn’t sure if he was a basketball player or
one of the Beatles.”
Mikulas has proven himself to
be a player in some of the Pirates’ biggest wins. He scored 14 points in
just 15 minutes in an 87-77 win over Louisville as a sophomore and
contributed seven assists in another upset, a 51-46 triumph over Marquette
in that same 2001-02 season.
Inspired by the largest crowd
in arena history, 8,081, Mikulas erupted for 22 points and had 11 rebounds
against Marquette’s bigger frontline as ECU stunned the Golden Eagles again,
73-70, on Dec. 30 last season.
The injury to Mikulas will
probably result in an expanded role for 6-8 Kinston product Corey Rouse, who
has averaged 4.7 points, 3.4 rebounds and 12.7 minutes as a sophomore.
Copyright 2004
Bonesville.net. All rights reserved. This material may not be
published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
02/23/2007 11:44:02 AM
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