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Next: ECU vs.
Charlotte |
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Monday, 7 pm |
TV: ESPN3/ASN |
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BASKETBALL |
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Pirates sail into uncharted waters |
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 East Carolina will be entering the
realm of the unknown in several
areas as it hosts Grambling State in
its basketball opener on Friday at 8
p.m. "We don't have any film on
Grambling or anything," said
sixth-year Pirates coach Jeff Lebo. ...
More from
Al Myatt... |
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FOOTBALL |
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Season taking its toll |
 One of my media partners took time
out to ask East Carolina coach
Ruffin McNeill if he was okay after
McNeill met with the media late
Saturday night following the
Pirates' 22-17 home loss to South
Florida. He beat me to the question. ...
More from
Brian Bailey... |
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Staff Report
�2015 Bonesville.net
All rights reserved.
View mobile alpha version of this page
View stats on ECUPirates.com (PDF)
GREENVILLE � East Carolina
won its season opening basketball game over Grambling State 61-53 on
Friday night at Williams Arena in Minges Coliseum as Caleb White scored
21 points.
The outcome provided
Pirates coach Jeff Lebo with his 299th career victory.
"I thought the game was
not a very good offensive display of shooting the basketball, by
really either team, but we're lucky to win that game shooting 31
percent, but we found a way to gut it out," Lebo said. "I thought we
did some good things coming down the stretch."
Freshman Kentrell
Barkley had eight points and 11 rebounds in 27 minutes.
"Kentrell Barkley, I
thought was terrific in the game," Lebo said. "He made some big
plays for us. We really struggled."
ECU's B.J. Tyson,
selected to the American Athletic Conference All-Freshman team last
season, went 0-for-9 from the field.
"B.J. really struggled,"
Lebo said. "He's going to have pressure on himself every night I
think, to be able to play well because we're going to need some
points and some consistency out of him. He's really had a tough
game, but thank God there's a game on Monday. Hopefully, he'll play
better.
"Caleb was terrific. He
was efficient as he always is � 21 points. The difference in the
game was us being able to get to the free throw line, that was a big
difference. To give them credit, I thought (Michael) Bethea was
terrific shooting the basketball; didn't know anything about him;
six threes and he made some big, timely ones, but give credit to my
guys. The game got tight late, and we made some plays, and kind of
got a little cushion there with three minutes to go in the game."
The Pirates made 29 of
42 free throws.
Bethea had 18 points,
hitting six of 11 from beyond the arc. His three with 9:18 left gave
the visitors their last lead at 41-40.
Kanu Aja scored in the
paint with 8:31 remaining to give ECU the lead for keeps at 42-41.
That sparked a decisive 10-0 run for the Pirates.
Tyson helped hold the
Tigers off from the foul line where he made all six of his attempts.
Tyson also claimed six rebounds as ECU held a 44-32 advantage on the
boards.
White grabbed five
rebounds. Tyson had a team-high four assists.
Lance Tejada had seven
points and Michel Nzege added six for ECU.
Mike Zangari had seven
points and five rebounds for the Pirates, who host Charlotte on
Monday at 7 p.m.
The
Brian Bailey Show airs on Pirate
Radio 1250 on Mondays at 6:30 p.m.
Brian's guests this week were high
school coaches Scott Gardner
(Farmville Central), Nate
Conner
(D.H. Conley) and Jim Bob Bryant
(Havelock):
Lyrics from an old
Carpenters song may
summarize how many
East Carolina fans feel
this morning after a
soaking 22-17 Saturday
loss to South
Florida that found the
Pirates stuck in
offensive slump. ...
ECU
coach Ruffin McNeill
spoke with reporters
after the Pirates' loss
to USF (recorded by