SMU Avenges Earlier Loss to ECU in an 84-64 Victory in Dallas
SMU had been waiting for an opportunity to avenge their earlier loss to ECU and they did it Wednesday night with a convincing 84-64 victory in Moody Coliseum in Dallas.
Tyson Jolly made five treys and led SMU with 17 points. He got 15 points of help from Kendric Davis to go along with eight assists. Ethan Chargois added 14.
Jayden Gardner had 18 points and nine boards while Tristen Newton had a career high 18 and Brandon Suggs added 15 points for the Pirates.
“They started when we went man to man and they made a couple of threes and made some tough shots,” Joe Dooley said afterward, “Jolly made a couple of tough ones. You know you’re really in trouble when C.J. White is jumping up and making three out of four. He has not shot the ball particularly well this season.”
Wednesday’s contest was almost the flip side of what happened when the two teams met in Greenville when the Pirates loaded up from the three-point line.
“We hit a ton of them at home and gave them problems and now we get here and they hit fifteen,” Dooley stated, “It seemed like every time we made a run they hit a three or a couple of threes and put us in harms way.”
ECU(8-11/2-4 AAC) made just 44 percent from the floor and just 28 percent from the arc. The Pirates went 7 of 12 from the line.
Meanwhile, SMU(14-4/4-2 AAC) had a better go of it on 54.7 percent shooting including 15 of 31 from the arc and 11 of 15 from the stripe in the win.
Brandon Suggs gave ECU an early three point lead and it proved to be the Pirates’ only lead of the game. Three-point jumpers from Tyson Jolly and Isiaha Mike highlighted a quick 10-0 run over the next three and a half minutes that created a working margin that ECU would never overcome.
Isiaha Mike’s layup grew the SMU lead to 34-19 and a Feron Hunt reverse dunk and a Trevon Robinson-White trey at the buzzer found the Mustangs up 40-26 at halftime.
Tristen Newton’s eleven points for ECU and nine points from Tyson Jolly for SMU led their respective teams in the first twenty minutes.
SMU made 55.6 percent of their shots in the first half including 7 for 17 from long range. ECU was less successful at just 37 percent including just 3 for 10 from the arc.
Jayden Gardner’s three point play in the lane and a dandy Brandon Suggs left hand fast break layup got ECU back to within eight at 41-33 early in the second half. Then Tristen Newton got stuck in the lane so he threw it up anyway and it went in and suddenly the lead was down to six.
But ECU’s brief prosperity didn’t last long when Tyson’s Jolly good dunk followed by Kendric Davis’ three-point drive and a Feron Hunt dunk pushed the SMU lead right back to 15 at 50-35.
Isiaha Mike’s three-point bomb from the top of the key had SMU up by 21 with under six minutes to play and the Mustangs coasted in from there.
The Pirates return to the court on Saturday when ECU hosts Tulane in a 6 pm game on ESPNU.
