Pirates unable to overcome slow start against Chanticleers

East Carolina suffers its third straight loss to fall to 8-4, travels to Clemson next

Following a complete meltdown in the second half of its 41-point loss to No. 6 Wake Forest, East Carolina sought to snap its two-game skid on Sunday when it traveled south to take on Big South foe Coastal Carolina at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center.

However, the Pirates (8-4) started very sluggishly and resembled the team that was dominated by the highly-ranked Deacons.

“Clearly we were sleepwalking from Christmas or the butt kicking we took against Wake Forest in the second half,” said McCarthy, following his team’s third straight defeat.

The Chants, who improved to 5-7 with the victory, led by as many as 15 on two different occasions in the opening half. Neither team shot the ball well, but ECU could only muster one field goal in the final 13:48 and was fortunate to only trail 31-17 at the break.

The Pirates shot only 23.8 percent from the floor—including 2-of-11 from three-point range. ECU has taken very good care of the basketball in most games this year, but committed 11 turnovers in the first half of this one.

The Pirates have persevered to battle back from deficits on a few occasions this season and it appeared that they may do so again.

Six points by Brock Young and four each by Jamar Abrams and Darrius Morrow spurred a 19-5 East Carolina run that allowed the Pirates to close their deficit to two at 38-36 with 11:41 to play.

However, that’s as close as they would get.

Coastal Carolina only connected on two of their 18 three-point attempts, but a Mario Sisinni triple extended the Chanticleer back to nine at 49-40 with 6:15 to play.

ECU would not seriously threaten the remainder of the way. It closed the gap to five on a Sam Hinnant three with just under three minutes to go and again when Brock Young knocked down a long range attempt with just over a minute left, but that’s as close as the Pirates would get.

Both teams concluded the contest shooting 37 percent, but the difference was the Chanticleers knocking down six more (21) free throws than the Pirates attempted (15).

The Pirates also finished with twice as many turnovers (15) as assists (7).

Point guard Brock Young was the only player to reach double figures for McCarthy’s club. He had a game-high 16 points and also led ECU with eight rebounds.

The Pirates failed to get much production from seniors Sam Hinnant and James Legan, who combined for 15 points on a 4-23 shooting effort. Chad Wynn and Darrius Morrow scored eight apiece, but their contributions were not as significant as they probably should have been against the smaller Coastal Carolina frontcourt. Wynn only managed two rebounds against the quicker Chanticleers.

However, McCarthy was quick to credit the tremendous effort of the undersized group that outquicked his club for the majority of the game. Joseph Harris recorded a double double with 11 points and 12 rebounds while Anthony Breeze finished with 8 points and 11 boards.

Mario Sisinni led the Chants with 15 points on the strength of an 8-of-8 effort from the charity stripe.

Things are only going to get tougher for the Pirates. They travel to Clemson on January 3 rd for their final non-conference date before beginning league play against Tulane.

“We are going from the frying pan into the fryer,“ stated McCarthy in his postgame remarks. “It’s going to be a major challenge. They are clearly an NCAA caliber team.”