Shawn Williams' Career High 22 Keys ECU's 90-52 Win Over USF
Shawn Williams tossed in a career high 22 points to go along with 18 points from Kentrell Barkley who tied an ECU record with seven steals. He also pulled down ten boards and had three dunks in leading the Pirates to a convincing 90-52 win over USF in Minges Coliseum.
B.J. Tyson added eleven points to go along with ten points from Dimitri Spasojevic for the Pirates who put five players in double-figures in their eighth win of the season. Isaac Fleming scored 10 points of his own to go along with 10 assists for the double-double.
Stephan Jiggetts went 3 for 5 from the arc to lead USF(7-12/0-6 AAC) in scoring with 15 points and David Collins added eight points for the Bulls.
After the game ECU head coach Mike Perry pointed to the team’s ability to share the basketball as a big key in Wednesday night’s AAC victory.
“I typically try to hold off some opinions and thoughts when I go into the locker room with them because I really want to watch the film and have a chance to reflect on it accurately,” said Perry, “One thing that was very glaring to me to the naked eye I thought was the way we played together as a team and the way we shared the basketball. This is something we’ve really been tying to encourage them to do.”
The Pirates went 35 for 57 from the floor for 61.4 percent including 58 percent from the arc on 11 of 19 shooting while limiting USF to just 40.8 percent shooting and just four of fourteen from three-point land.
“It’s a beautiful thing to see when guys share the basketball. We went into the game tonight with the thinking and the process to be able to pass up a good shot to create a better shot for somebody else. Defer the good shot to somebody who could have a great shot. Let’s make the extra pass and play as a team," Perry said, "When I saw the stat sheet and the assists to the total number of field goals, it was impressive. 22 assists on 35 field goals, that’s an impressive number. As a coach you don’t get to see nights like this too often but you really do enjoy them.”
The Pirates were off to a quick 19-3 start on three Kentrell Barkley baskets and three point plays from Isaac Fleming, Dimitri Spasojevic and Jabari Craig. Two free throws and a subsequent basket from David Collins helped break the ECU run midway into the half.
USF went 6 of 20 from the floor in the first seventeen minutes including just one for eight from the arc. Meanwhile ECU kept the peddle to the metal, expanding the lead to 36-16 with 3:27 in the period. Shawn Williams’ steal and left handed reverse layup followed by Williams' corner trey for his game high eleventh point found the Pirates up 44-18 at halftime.
ECU(8-10/2-5 AAC) was boosted by 51.6 percent shooting including four treys, 22 points in the paint and 17 points off of 12 Bull turnovers in the first half while limiting USF to only 33 percent shooting from the floor at the intermission.
Three Kentrell Barkley fast break dunks and three-pointers from Aaron Jackson and B.J. Tyson had the Pirates up 63-28 with less than twelve minutes to play. Then three straight Shawn Williams jumpers extended the lead to 71-32 at the eight minute mark.
Williams’ sixth trey of the game, an Usman Haruna slam dunk and a long bomb from Kentrell Barkley had the Pirates up by forty with less than four minutes remaining. USF finally cracked the fifty point mark with 1:07 to play on an Isaiah Manderson dunk.
ECU held Payton Banks scoreless after he scored a team high 22 points in his last outing against Cincinnati. It was the Pirates’ first thirty-plus point win since 1998.
The Pirates hit the road for a two game road swing that begins at Cincinnati with a game this Saturday at 4 o’clock.
