By By BRIAN HAINES, Sports Writer
GREENVILLE — East Carolina’s long and bumpy road trip has one more stop before it gets back to Greenville. The Pirates’ basketball team will wrap up a seven-game road stretch tonight when it plays at Charlotte at 8 p.m.
The last time ECU hoops was in Minges Coliseum was for its season opener against University of Virginia-Wise, which it won 77-60 on Nov. 13.
Since then, the Pirates have played six straight road games, highlighted by a trip to the U.S. Virgin Islands to play in the Paradise Jam.
The Pirates have gone 2-4 away from home and enter tonight’s game with a 3-4 record.
East Carolina got a much needed victory its last time out as it topped UNC-Greensboro on Saturday 82-61.
Sophomore forward Darrius Morrow netted a career-high 22 points while pulling down nine rebounds to lead the Pirates. ECU had all five of its starters finish in double-digit scoring as Brock Young and Jamar Abrams tallied 15 points each, while Chad Wynn and Jontae Sherrod each scored 10.
Young also handed out a team-high seven assists, as the Pirates shot a season-best 58 percent from the floor.
East Carolina will have its hands full tonight as it takes on a 49ers (4-1) team that is led by junior Shamari Spears. The 6-6 forward has scored over 20 points the last four games and is averaging 24.3 points per game this season.
Charlotte’s next highest scorer is point guard DiJuan Harris who is posting 9.2 points a game while he has dished out a team-high 23 assists.
Freshman forward Chris Braswell has been a bright spot for the 49ers as he leads the team with 8.4 rebounds a night. The 6-8 forward netted 15 points and 11 rebounds in the team’s latest win, an 80-72 win over Hofstra.
Derrio Green has started all five games for Charlotte and has netted eight points a night.
Charlotte coach Bobby Lutz has mixed and matched a few players for his starting lineup early this season, using a combination of (6-5, Jr) RaShad Coleman, (6-10, Jr) Phil Jones and (6-5, Jr) Charles Dewhurst.
In anticipation of playing their rivals to the east, the 49ers have announced that tonight’s game will be a “blackout game” in which their fans are encouraged to wear all black.