Pirates return home to host Eagles|Look to extend winning streak
Published 9:04 pm Wednesday, January 26, 2011
By By BRIAN HAINES, Brian@wdnweb.com, Sports Writer
GREENVILLE After winning back-to-back games on the road the Pirates will look to build on their two-game winning streak tonight at home when they host Conference USA rival Southern Miss.
East Carolina (11-8, 3-2) stunned No. 19 Central Florida a week ago, then rallied from a 12-point halftime deficit against Marshall to pull out a thrilling 82-81 victory on Saturday.
The win over the Thundering Herd allowed first-year coach Jeff Lebo and his team to pass last years win total while putting the Pirates only one conference win behind last years total of four with 11 games to go in the regular season.
The key to Saturdays rally was a strong defensive effort combined with a monster game by junior forward Darrius Morrow who scored 21 of his career-high 33 points in the second half and pulled down eight rebounds to pace the Pirates.
Everything seemed to go right that night, Morrow said. I just found a way to put the ball in the hole. I just wish I would have made more free throws (11-21 at the line), but it was just a good night. It seemed like all my shots were falling. I was just feeling it and I put the team on my back.
Lebo has said all along he wanted to make post play a point of emphasis for the Pirates and on Saturday the team was all on the same page in an effort to make that happen.
Everybody had the same idea in their head, Morrow said. Coach kept calling the plays to get it inside and the guards were sacrificing and getting me the ball.
East Carolina senior point guard Brock Young said he would like to see that kind of output from Morrow more often.
He was just working hard in the post. Something that he should be doing more often is working hard to get post position and going at other post players and finishing over taller defenders and he was doing that, Young said. He was getting (defenders) up in the air and in foul trouble and they just had no answer for him.
The back-to-back wins has East Carolina in a four-way tie for second place with UAB, Houston and Tulsa, who are all behind conference leaders UTEP (16-4, 4-1) and Memphis (15-4, 4-1).
Southern Miss has lost its last two games and is positioned right behind ECU with a 14-5, (3-3) record.
The Golden Eagles are led by 6-8, 214-pound senior forward Gary Flowers who is Conference USAs leading scorer with 20.7 points per game. Flowers is also pulling down 7.2 boards a night and has blocked 33 shots this season.
Gary Flowers is a great player, Morrow said. He leads the conference in scoring. He was a great player last year and he is very skilled post player. He can post up, shoot turn-arounds, he can defend and he averages like two blocks per game. He is a great player and I look forward to matching up against him.
Southern Miss is expected to start three guards, R.L. Horton, D.J. Newbill and Angelo Johnson, to go along with Flowers and 6-9 forward Josimer Ayarza. The Eagles, who are second in the conference in scoring with 77 points per game, will look to push the tempo on both ends of the court tonight.
They are a tough team. They play all 40 minutes and defend well, ECU forward Jamar Abrams said. They are athletic, the rebound and are a really good team. They are going to try and get a lot of fastbreak points. They have big athletic guys that can run down the floor. They deny a lot. They will pressure you and try to make you do things outside of your set.
Young said playing a skilled pressure team can be tough but that he and the guards need to take care of the ball.
They are very active and long, they get in the passing lanes and play pressure defense, Young said. We just have to withstand that pressure and run our sets, stay focused and try and get a win.