East Carolina Falls in Cincinnati
Matters didn't get any better for slumping ECU as Cincinnati improved their case for an at-large NCAA tournament bid with their 19th win of the season 75-60 over the Pirates Saturday afternoon in Fifth-Third Arena. Octavius Ellis led five Bearcats in double figures with 16 points.
Gary Clark had 15, Kevin Johnson scored 13 and Troy Caupain chipped in with 12 to go along with 10 from Jacob Evans for Cincinnati. Prince Williams led the Pirates with 15 points. Caleb White tossed in 13, B.J. Tyson had 12 and Kentrell Barkley had 11 in ECU’s third straight loss.
Cincinnati jumped out to an early 8-2 lead before a B.J. Tyson trey and a Kentrell Barkley drive keyed an early ECU rally to trim the Cincinnati lead to one at 8-7. But two Gary Clark buckets including a three point play and a basket from Coreontae DeBarry pushed the Bearcat lead to 15-8 despite going 0 for 7 from the arc in the first nine minutes of the contest.
The Pirates crawled back into the game and managed cut the Cincinnati lead to 17-15 midway through the first half on baskets from Clarence Williams, a step out three-pointer from 6-9 Mike Zangari and a pair of free throws from B.J. Tyson. Then two Caleb White three-pointers along with a subsequent White left hand runner in the paint gave ECU(10-15.2-10) a brief 23-22 lead.
But two Troy Caupain’s jumpers put the Bearcats back on top and three Octavius Ellis baskets and a Caupain three-point jumper capped a 12-3 run as Cincinnati took a commanding 34-26 halftime lead.
Ellis had 12 at intermission while Caupain scored eight first half points for Cincinnati who managed to hit 42 percent of their first half shots and ruled the glass 20-14 despite going just 3 of 16 from the arc. Caleb White and B.J. Tyson scored eight points each in the first twenty minutes for ECU who converted just under 37 percent in the from the field.
ECU’s Kentrell Barkley got a little something cooking with a double-pump in the lane and a steal that led to a Prince Williams three-pointer. Then Tyson scored on a jumper and a three-pointer to cut the Bearcat lead to one at 38-37 at the seventeen minute mark to cap an 11-4 run.
White canned another trey and Prince Williams scored in the paint for ECU to tie the game at 42 apiece. Then missed shots from Zangari and Barkley led to a Kevin Johnson trey to give back the lead to the Bearcats with just under twelve minutes in regulation.
A pair of Bearcat steals then led to a pair of Cincinnati dunks from Evans and Johnson as Cincinnati’s lead suddenly grew to 53-43. Prince nailed a trey and White and Zangari had made shots along with a Williams three-point play in transition and despite a trey from Evans and a basket in the paint from DeBerry, ECU cut the Bearcat lead to five with 6:41 to play.
Caupain abused Prince Williams underneath for a three-point play 53-61 and then Prince returned the favor at the other end of the court in a 61-55 contest with 5:44 to play. Kevin Johnson's corner trey after an ECU’s eleventh turnover and a Gary Clark jumper from the free throw line with 3:42 to go kept Cincinnati(19-7/9-4) in control by nine. Clark hit a pair of free throws and a two-point jumper and subsequent trey from Johnson blew the lead up to 73-57 with 1:39 to play.
The Bearcats cruised in from there to pick up a fifteen point 75-60 win.
Cincinnati dominated the boards 37-30 and hit 48 percent from the field to 38 percent for the Pirates and had 21 assists to ECU's 12 in the victory.
