East Carolina got off to a good start to the season pulling out a 70-62 victory Tuesday night over feisty South Carolina State in Minges Coliseum, but not before the Bulldogs made it interesting late.
The Pirates were able to build a 13-point 59-46 lead with less than nine minutes to play on a Brandon Johnson layup, but the Bulldogs kept it close down the stretch, cutting the lead to two at 60-58 with 4:25 to play.
Four points late from Tristen Newton and a J.J. Miles fast break bucket put ECU up by eight with less than a minute left and helped the Pirates put the game on ice.
J.J. Miles led the Pirates in scoring with 18 points to go along with 15 points from Tristen Newton, 12 points and 13 rebounds from Arkansas transfer Vance Jackson and 11 points and 13 boards from Raleigh junior Brandon Johnson.
Cameron Jones tossed in 15 points and nine rebounds to lead South Carolina State and T.J. Madlock had 11 points in the loss for the Bulldogs against an ECU team that made just 32 percent from the field including just 22 percent from long range. Luckily for the Pirates, the Bulldogs made just 35 percent of their shots and turned the ball over 16 times to just nine for ECU.
“It’s always good to start the season out with a win to build confidence,” said Miles, “But it wasn’t our best win. We see what we need to work on and clean it up and fix it in practice, but it was a great first win for the guys.”
ECU head coach ECU head coach Joe was complimentary of Tony Madlock's team after the game.
“Opening game and I thought Tony did some good things and had them turned up doing some really good things. I thought they played with good pace,” Dooley said afterward, “I said to our guys that I wasn’t very impressed by what we did tonight.”
“We didn’t play like we were capable of which was disappointing. Some of that is attributable to South Carolina State’s efforts, but we did some things I hadn’t seen all preseason which was a little concerning,” Dooley stated.
“Those are things we can correct but I saw a lot of things I hadn’t seen in the preseason and I hope I don’t see them again.”
Dooley found a few things to be happy with after game one but wants his team to pick it up on the defensive end of the floor.
“We played well in transition in spurts. I was concerned about the way we guarded in transition,” Dooley stated, “We gave up seven layups in the first half and that’s something we do every day. It seemed like we were a little caught a little bit off guard. I don’t know if it was their speed or our lack of getting back and corralling the ball. At one point they were shooting 58 percent. We got it down in the mid 30’s before the half.”
After being by seven points early, East Carolina settled down to eventually take a one point 11-10 lead at the fourteen minute mark of the first period on a J.J. Miles trey. The Bulldogs then jumped right back up by seven with twelve minutes to go in the first half on a pair of Omar Crosley baskets and a trey from T.J. Madlock.
ECU(1-0) then roared back on Vance Jackson’s hoop and harm in the paint along with transition baskets from Brandon Suggs and a pair of Tristen Newton layups for a one-point 23-22 lead.
Two J.J. Miles bombs and Brandon Johnson’s basket in the lane had ECU up by seven with 4:30 to go in the half, a lead that grew to eight for a 42-34 halftime lead.
South Carolina State(0-1) started off fast in the first five minutes of the second period on a pair of treys and two buckets in the paint to quickly cut the ECU lead to two.
East Carolina will return to action this Friday when the Pirates host a Canisius team that lost 77-67 at Miami Tuesday evening.
PI AUDIO: JOE DOOLEY POST GAME
