SMU Topples Cold Shooting ECU 71-56
ECU endured yet another cold shooting night and SMU got their share of easy shots along with 19 free throws in 20 attempts in a 71-56 win Monday night in Greenville.
Kendric Davis tossed in 25 points to lead SMU(11-4/7-4 AAC) to go along with 11 from Tyson Jolly and nine points and nine boards from Feron Hunt. Jayden Gardner did manage to score 23 points including 11 of 13 free throw attempts along with nine rebounds and J.J. Miles added 11 points for an ECU team that collectively went just 16 for 53 from the floor including and 2-14 from three-point range.
“It’s very frustrating not to be able to get the ball to go in the basket. At the end of the day the other team is going to score. You’ve got to be able to score on offense and match it a little bit,” said Gardner, “We’ve just got to be prepared, ready to make shots. It’s a make or miss league and that’s as simple as I can put it. Right now we’re really hot or we are ice cold and there’s got to be some middle ground.
ECU head coach Joe Dooley was not happy with the way his team performed overall and despite managing to come from behind to tie the game in the second half, untimely turnovers and missed free throws did the Pirates in.
“Our offense was terrible. We were 3 of 27 the last two games from three and we looked like we were running in sand,” Dooley told PirateIllustrated.com, “I did think we battled back to 49-49 and got a little bit of rhythm, but untimely missed layups, missed free throws and turnovers especially on easy shots like layups just takes all of the momentum away. We need to shoot the ball better.”
After a sluggish offensive start, the Pirates began to piece together several solid first half possessions. A 13-2 ECU run capped off by a Tristen Newton three-point play had ECU up 14-4 at the eleven minute mark.
But it wasn’t long before SMU began to piece together a scoring run of their own. A three-pointer from Darius McNeil helped the Mustangs climb back to within three before a wide open basket in the paint from Isiah Jasey cut the lead to one at 14-13. Then a Feron Hunt scored in transition to give SMU the lead.
A flagrant technical foul on ECU center Ludgy Debaut resulted in an ejection and a pair of Kendric Davis free throws. SMU then followed that up with a Darin Hunt trey and a Kendric Davis basket and to build a 26-16 cushion in a 25-4 Mustang run.
ECU(8-8/2-8 AAC) did manage to crawl back to within six at halftime at 30-24.
SMU held ECU to 22 percent first half shooting including 0 for 8 from the arc and just two first half assists was much of the culprit. Kendric Davis led all scorers with 12 points in the first twenty minutes.
The Mustangs maintained a 49-42 lead midway into the second half before a J.J. Miles trey and a Jayden Gardner leaner in the paint tied the game at 49-49 with 8:22 to play. But SMU grew their lead right back to nine on drives from Tyson Jolly and Kendric Davis and a pair of Jolly free throws with just 4:33 to go.
Davis continued to get to the rim while ECU made little use of their offensive chances down the stretch and SMU held on for the win.
The Pirates return to the court in Philadelphia Thursday at high noon when ECU takes on Temple in AAC play.
