ECU(4-1) got 58 of their 82 points from the trifecta of Kentrell Barkley, Caleb White and B.J. Tyson in a twenty-point 82-62 win over the Florida A&M Rattlers Tuesday night in Minges Coliseum.
Barkley led all scorers with 21 while White had another good night with 20 points including six treys and B.J. Tyson tossed in 17 points despite going 0-5 from the arc for the evening.
“I just keep doing my job. Rebounding and attacking the rim,” Barkley told PirateIllustrated.com, “Trying to get a foul and finishing through contact."
Desmond Williams led Florida A&M with 19 points while Trey-Cary Warren added 11 for the Rattlers who with the loss fall to 2-3 on the year.
“In the first half we were outstanding defensively and we were good offensively too. i thought we moved the ball well and defended well for twenty minutes. We made it difficult-everything was difficult for them,” said ECU head coach Jeff Lebo who picked up his 104th win at ECU, the most in program history, “They don’t make a three-point field goal. That was an emphasis for us to make them put it on the floor. The second half we went through the motions a little bit, but we relied on the big three this game - Caleb (White), Kentrell (Barkley) and B.J. (Tyson) I thought they were all very solid. They didn’t turn the ball over. They took care of the ball, so it was a good win. I thought Florida A&M played very hard, especially in the second half where they were more active and quicker to the ball.”
The Pirates connected on nearly 50 percent of their shot attempts and went 9 of 24 from the arc while holding the Rattlers to 0 for 8 from three-point land and limiting them to 37 percent shooting. ECU enjoyed a 42-36 advantage on the boards which didn’t hurt matters and had a better night in terms of turnovers with just 14 for the evening.
White etched his name in the ECU history book when he became ECU’s sixth player in program history with 200 career treys.
“I was just happy with the win but I didn’t think we executed like we should have,” White said, “I can just knock them down when Kentrell penetrates or B.J. penetrates and they collapse. You just make them pick their poison, really."
East Carolina went on an early 9-2 run to open the game. The Pirates then extended the lead to 17-4 on a basket from B.J. Tyson, a three-pointer from freshman point guard Jeremy Sheppard and an Andre Washington dunk.
Elijah Mays, Justin Ravenal and two Florida A&M buckets from Craig Bowman trimmed the ECU lead to eight midway through the first half. But that was as close as they would come. The lead exploded to 43-17 on three Caleb White treys and a pair of Kentrell Barkley baskets that found the Pirates up 46-21 at intermission. White had 15 and Barkley tossed in 11 for ECU and Craig Bowman led Florida A&M with 7 points in the first twenty minutes of play.
The Pirates held a 27-15 edge on the glass and limited the Rattlers to 29.6 percent shooting from the floor. ECU hit 50 percent of their 36 shots including 41.7 percent on 5 of 12 shooting from the arc.
The ECU lead was 66-41 midway through the second half on a Deng Riak dunk. The Pirates then built as much as a 25-point cushion on a Kentrell Barkley trey before Rattler baskets from Leon Williams, Nicholas Severado and Desmond Williams cut the ECU lead to under 16 on a Trey-Cary Warren bucket. But that was as close as the Rattlers would get as ECU pulled away down the stretch by twenty.
PirateIllustrated.com was there to bring you PI Photos and the post game words of ECU head coach Jeff Lebo along with the post game observations of Kentrell Barkley & Caleb White along with tonight's Box Score.
