ECU Tops Asheville for Sixth Win

KINGSTON, R.I. - East Carolina continued their winning ways in basketball with a 81-70 win over UNC-Asheville in the NIT Tipoff consolation round at the Thomas M. Ryan Center on the campus of the University of Rhode Island.

Paris Roberts-Campbell scored 20 and Prince Williams had 19

"I thought we played really well beside a minute stretch at the end of the first half and a two minute stretch late in the game. I thought Prince Williams was resilliant with 19 points tonight. They did get some points late. We learned a little about momentum. We fouled on a three and then take a bad shot. Suddenly there goes momentum, said Lebo, "We miss a couple of free throws and they hit a couple and suddenly they're back in the ballgame. But I thought we did some nice things. Mike Zangari had some nice moves. To get number six with this young team and all the things that have happened is pretty good."

The Pirates jumped out to an early 21-9 lead on twelve early points from Paris Roberts-Campbell and seven points from Prince Williams. Caleb White, Akeem Richmond and Michael Zangari tossed in 10 points each on 49 percent shooting and 7 for 21 from the arc.

Sam Hughes led the way for UNC-Asheville with 21 points. Andrew Rowsey had 16 and Juron Lane added 13 on 37.1 percent shooting as a team.

Asheville hit only 5 for 20 in the first twelve minutes of the game.

Brandon Stith's put-back and an Antonio Robinson drive extended the lead to 31-18.

The Pirates led 40-27 at halftime...

UNC-Asheville was down by twenty points with 3:41 to play when they went on a run late in the game with three three-point shots. Rowsey nailed a pair of bombs and Alex Biggerstaff's three pointer kept UNC-A in the game.

Asheville scored 12 straight points and cut the lead to eight with 1:29 to play on two Andrew Rowsey baskets and a baseline jumper from Jaron Lane out of D.H. Conley High.

A tip by Jaron Lane, a David Robertson bucket and Sam Hughes basket cut the lead to eight inside of one minute to play. Prince Williams nailed a pair of free throws for East Carolina(6-1) to extend the lead to 81-70 as the Pirates get their sixth victory of the season.

The Pirates hit 20 of 27 from the charity stripe including 9 of 12 in the last 1:11 of the game while Asheville(1-6) connected on 11 of 14 from the foul line.