Pirates can't hold off Sanders, Blazers

East Carolina drops to 7-2 at Williams Arena-Minges Coliseum

After doing what it needed to do to collect a win over Tulane on Saturday, East Carolina was unable to duplicate that in a hard-fought 66-59 loss to UAB on Monday night at Williams Arena-Minges Coliseum.

The Pirates (9-8, 1-2) took a 27-24 lead into the locker room after Jamar Abrams knocked down a three with just five seconds remaining. The first half was a see saw affair that featured five ties and lead changes.

UAB (12-4, 2-1) went up 16-12 just over six minutes into the contest when Cameron Moore knocked down a three. However, ECU used a 7-0 spurt over the next three and a half minutes to take a 19-16 advantage with just over ten minutes to play.

East Carolina opened the second half with a 12-3 run to open a 12-point working margin with over 16 minutes to play.

A pair of Jamarr Sanders' trifectas fueled a 11-2 run over the next two minutes to quickly pull the Blazers back to within three at 41-38 with 14:17 remaining.

A three-pointer by Jontae Sherrod put the Pirates back up seven with 9:26 left, but a pair of free throws by Cameron Moore knotted the game at 49 with just over seven minutes to go.

Sanders, who scored a game-high 26 points--including a 6-of-7 performance from beyond the arc, put UAB ahead to stay on a lay-up with just under six minutes left. The Blazers built their lead to as many as eight before a Sherrod three-pointer and hoop by Abrams could the lead to three at the 45 second mark.

Cameron Moore and Aaron Johnson also scored in double figures for UAB, who shot a sizzling 54.5% after halftime. The Blazers concluded the contest a stellar 18-of-21 at the charity stripe while East Carolina was just 14-of-23.

Sherrod and Abrams each scored 16 for the Pirates.

Darrius Morrow, who was plagued by foul trouble for much of the game, finished with just three points and did not attempt a field goal in 21 minutes.

The Pirates will continue their tough stretch of four games in eight days on Wednesday when it travels to Orlando to face first-year coach Donnie Jones and his UCF Knights.