Bulled over

[Apis Bull]

Bulled over

By Brock Letchworth, The Daily Reflector

Thursday, January 06, 2005

In college basketball, momentum can change at the drop of a dime.

In Wednesday night's Conference USA opener against South Florida, the East Carolina men's basketball team found that out the hard way.

The Pirates put together one of their best halves of the season in the first 20 minutes against USF, building a double-digit advantage, and looked to pad that lead in the early minutes of the second half when one questionable decision gave USF the edge it needed.

The Bulls capitalized on the ECU miscue, rallying from 13 points down in the game to sneak out of Minges Coliseum with a 72-71 win over the Pirates.

"This one hurts," Herrion said. "This league is an extremely unforgiving league. You can't breathe and there's zero margin for error."

The costly error for ECU (5-8) came with the Pirates holding a 47-34 lead its largest of the game and just more than 18 minutes remaining. Following a 3-pointer by the Pirates, the ECU press led to a steal for Japhet McNeil and an opportunity to increase the lead. With a 2-on-1 advantage, McNeil elected to fake a pass behind his back and take the ball to the basket himself. The sophomore guard missed the layup badly, and USF responded with a 3-pointer on the other end. An ensuing run pulled the Bulls (8-4) back into the game.

"That was huge," Herrion said. "We steal the ball right in front of our bench, and Japhet McNeil tries to make the dipsy-doo play and misses the layup. That would've put us up 15, but instead they hit a three and get back in it. That was huge."

Despite a 16-point, 16-rebound performance by Moussa Badiane, it was another frustrating night for the Pirates' frontcourt. The ECU trio of Badiane, Mike Castro and Corey Rouse finished a combined 8-of-26 from the floor. The Bulls limited Rouse to only three points and six rebounds on 0-for-4 shooting.

"We kept trying to run stuff inside for Moussa and Corey Rouse, and I thought we were getting it where we wanted to get it," Herrion said. "I don't know what else to do."

ECU built its lead in the first half behind the hot hand of freshman Tom Hammonds IV and a feisty defense that forced 13 turnovers before the break. With the Bulls holding a 23-20 lead, Hammonds scored eight of the next 10 points, sparking a 10-0 ECU run that gave the Pirates a 30-23 advantage with just under five minutes remaining in the half. USF managed only three more field goals for the remainder of the half, thanks to stifling pressure by the ECU defense. The Pirates scored 15 points before the break off USF turnovers, building a 42-32 lead at the half.

"We pressed them right out of the gates and our press was good tonight," Herrion said. "It gave us energy. It gave us tempo, and they were turning it over."

The Bulls finished with 20 turnovers in the game, but ECU failed to convert any into points after the half.

The Pirates began the second half with consecutive baskets by Mike Cook and McNeil, which helped ECU take its largest lead of the game. Following the turnover by McNeil, however, ECU seemed to have trouble executing offensively.

"We stopped playing team ball," Cook said. "In the first half we were doing a good job of getting people the ball, but I think we just got relaxed and comfortable and just stopped playing team ball in the second half. Coach is putting us in the right position, we've just got to make the plays."

The Bulls slowly worked their way back into the game, tying it on two occasions before snatching its first lead of the second half with 2:33 remaining on a free throw by Marlyn Bryant.

Following a jumper by Cook, ECU was clinging to a 66-65 with just more than two minutes remaining. At that point, Hammonds got an open look from three-point range, but the freshman's shot rattled out and USF responded with a pair of free throws to take the lead once again. The Bulls never trailed again.

"What we're having trouble doing is closing out games," Herrion said. "We're a good basketball team, but we just haven't figured out when things get tough and it gets down the stretch.

"There's not a lot of leadership and we don't make plays."

USF finished 26-of-36 from the free-throw line in the game, including a stretch in which the Bulls hit 7-of-10 in the final minute. The Pirates went to the line 23 times in the game, converting 17 attempts.

"We were tired late, we were fatigued and we really got stagnate on offense," Herrion said.

Cook led the Pirates with 18 points, while Terrence Leather also had 18 to pace the Bulls' attack.

ECU will look to rebound with a trip to Charlotte to face the 49ers on Saturday. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m.

Bulled over

These guys are basically blaming one guy for the loss.

[Papa_Bull]

Cry me a river!  ;D

[The_Reaper]

They are lucky their coach didn't get at least 3 T's last night. I thought taunting and running on the court was an immediate game T? Am I wrong? ( Ref. to the T Leather incident)

[Markeymark]

It's good, no make that great to see (well, hear) USF as the team who grinds down the opposition with team play and FT's in the second half. I'm not sure how ECU will stack up in CUSA, but this has to be a big confidence-builder for the Bulls.

[Bull Matrix]

Rebe,

I agree that it was bush league for ECU's coach to come out to the court to yap at Leather. TJ Rives could not believe that the coach was not called for a technical. The coach was basically making matters worse in that game by walking towards the free throw line. Bad C-USA officials. I will not miss the way C-USA refs and officials call games. GOOD RIDDANCE!!!!

[smazza]

we were the tougher better coached team

[JeffreyBEllis]

Bulls fans,

Congratulations on a very hard-fought men's intercollegiate basketball game in Greenville.

In comparison to his predecessor at South Florida, Robert McCullum is the consummate gentleman and statesman. Hopefully, Coach McCullum will succeed at USF in the future.

Regarding my "other" collegiate alma mater, I am hoping that ECU could salvage the remainder of the season with a few victories, at the very least.

Regrettably, my primary fear is that East Carolina has faced the weakest segment of its current schedule excluding Oregon State, Pepperdine, North Carolina State and South Florida.

Nevertheless, best of luck in your future endeavors.