Pirates winless on the road

Published 9:25 pm Tuesday, December 8, 2015

FINDING RHYTHM: B.J. Tyson looks to make a move around a Florida Atlantic defender in a home game last week. Despite the loss, it seems he is finding a rhythm after a slow start. The sophomore guard scored 17 points.

FINDING RHYTHM: B.J. Tyson looks to make a move around a Florida Atlantic defender in a home game last week. Despite the loss, it seems he is finding a rhythm after a slow start. The sophomore guard scored 17 points.

The East Carolina basketball team is off to another slow start on the road in the 2015-16 season after dropping a 77-73 decision against College of Charleston Monday night.

After running a 1-11 record on the road last season, the Pirates have started the season 0-3 on the road this season with losses at California, San Diego State and Charleston.

Freshman forward Kentrell Barkley continued his hot stretch of play in the loss as he notched his second straight career-high in points with 22 and a game-high 10 rebounds on the night. Barkley also added five assists. The double-double was the first of his career.

Ultimately, ECU’s ship was sunk by a terrible shooting performance in the first half and a 21-point output in the first 20 minutes as a whole. The Pirates shot 9-of-28 (32 percent) in the first half and just 1-for-7 from behind the three-point arc.

Caleb White struggled again from the field, hitting just 4-for-13 and 2-of-7 from deep. White still managed to score in double figures with 12, but was largely held quiet in the loss. He failed to pull in a rebound and had just one assist.

B.J. Tyson, who attempted just one three pointer in his career-high 26-point outing against USC Upstate, scored 17 and sank 2-of-5 shots from the perimeter. The Pirates overall turned to the three pointer 16 times in the game and sank five of those for a 31 percent shooting mark.

Charleston’s Canyon Barry scored a game-high 27 points in the win and got to the free throw line frequently, as 13 of his points came from the charity stripe.

The Pirates made a large comeback effort in the second half, where they outscored the Cougars 52-40. The Pirates cut into Charleston’s lead late in the game, thanks in large part to Kanu Aja, Tyson and White’s output. ECU cut the lead to two points inside of 30 seconds remaining on a Tyson layup. However, with the shot clock off the Pirates had to foul.

After Barry made his two free throws, Tyson missed an attempted three pointer to make it a one-point game. Tyson fouled Barry and sent him to the line again with five second remaining to seal the game.

The Pirates return home for matchups with North Carolina A&T and UNC Wilmington this weekend before its last road trip of non-conference play against James Madison.