The ECU men’s basketball team picked up its second home win of the week with a 74-53 victory over Presbyterian.
Below are more details from ECU Sports Information. Video is postgame from Pirate Radio. Photos are from fans in the stands, also by Pirate Radio.
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Photo credit: (ECU Sports Information)
Jordan Riley scored a game-high 24 points as East Carolina defeated Presbyterian in wire-to-wire fashion, 74-53, on Wednesday evening inside Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum.
Giovanni Emejuru added 21 points for the Pirates (5-7) who picked up their second straight win by holding Presbyterian under 40 percent shooting and forcing the Blue Hose into 19 turnovers. Tybo Bailey scored 12 points on 3-of-4 shooting from deep while Luke Davis scored a season-high eight points and Corey Caulker added seven points, five assists and four rebounds.
Jaylen Peterson led Presbyterian (6-7) with 17 points.
The Pirates’ starting frontcourt of Emejuru and Davis helped the team jump out to a 7-0 lead to start the game and Corey Caulker drilled a triple to put the Pirates ahead 10-4 at the game’s first media timeout.
Emejuru’s fourth dunk of the half gave ECU a 14-4 lead with 13:41 left before halftime but a four-minute Pirate scoring drought allowed the Blue Hose to hang around in the game. The Pirates closed the half on a strong note with a 6-0 run to take a 38-23 lead at the break.
Presbyterian scored the first eight points of the second half to trim ECU’s lead to single digits as the Pirates gave the ball away four times with six of the Blue Hose’s eight points coming of ECU’s miscues leading to a timeout with 17:12 to go in the game.
The Blue Hose made the score 42-38 after another Pirate turnover led to a slam from Triston Wilson but back-to-back vicious slams from Riley pushed ECU’s lead back to eight and forced a Presbyterian timeout with 12:30 to go.
Chidi Chiakwelu’s layup with 7:35 remaining cut East Carolina’s lead to seven but Presbyterian would get no closer as East Carolina went on a 9-0 run to push their lead to 16 and pull away for the win.
Up Next
East Carolina wraps up non-conference play at No. 12 North Carolina on Monday at 8 p.m. on ACC Network.