ECU basketball recap:
Pirates pull away in second half to down Chowan, 68-50

Freshman center John Fields makes emphatic return to the Pirates' line-up

CUSA-fans.com has a new staff of team correspondents this year to help bring you, the fan, more detailed Conference USA sports coverage. Today, our ECU Correspondent Thomas "Bubba" Rosenbaum brings you a recap of the basketball game between East Carolina and Chowan.

Prior to Saturday night, East Carolina had not won since Thanksgiving weekend. Thankfully for the Pirates, their seven-game drought ended when they used a strong second half to put away the pesky Division II Chowan Hawks, 68-50, at Williams Arena-Minges Coliseum.

The victory was not the only thing that Ricky Stokes and his team had to be thankful for. The game also marked the return of their fine freshman center John Fields, who had missed the Pirates’ last three games with a shoulder injury. He punctuated that return with an exclamation point, posting his first career double-double by scoring a career-high 14 points and grabbing a career-best 11 rebounds.

Freshman Gabe Blair also garnered a double-double, recording 10 points and 14 rebounds. Darrell “Smooch” Jenkins scored in double figures for the tenth time this season, tallying 13 points and 7 assists. Fellow backcourt member Jeremy Ingram had 10 points, which included a 3-of-6 performance from behind the arc.

Jaleel Nelson knocked down three three-pointers and totaled 12 points to lead Chowan. Trayvon Lathan and Lando Morrison finished with 11 points each for the Hawks.

The Hawks took an early 3-0 lead, but the Pirates responded with an 8-0 run to go up five just a little less than three minutes into the game.

After their margin had been trimmed to two at 12-10, East Carolina went on a 15-6 run to take its first double-digit lead at 27-16 with just less than seven minutes remaining in the first half.

The Pirates’ largest lead of the half was 12 when Cory Farmer drained a three-pointer to make it 30-18 at the 5:32 mark.

The Hawks trimmed that deficit into single digits as they closed the half by outscoring the Pirates, 8-5, which made it 35-26 at the break.

Chowan closed within six at 39-33 early in the second half, but it actually missed an opportunity to trim the margin even further. With the Pirates leading 39-29, the Hawks’ Jaleel Nelson drained a three-pointer and then collected a steal. As he drove to the basket, he was fouled intentionally by ECU’s Darrell Jenkins; however, he was only able to make good on one free throw and his team failed to convert on its subsequent possession.

The lead grew to as many as 22 when Cory Farmer connected on his second three of the game with 4:59 remaining.

Amid the run, point guard Darrell Jenkins brought Pirate fans to their feet when he spectacularly went around his back then converted a lay-up with his back facing the basket support.

The Pirates only basket the remainder of the way was Greyson Sargent’s first career three-pointer in the game’s final minute.

East Carolina shot much better from the floor (47%) and three-point range (8-of-18); however, their struggles from the charity stripe continued as they made good on only 10-of-19 attempts.

Ricky Stokes’ club shared the basketball well, as it tallied 22 assists on 25 made field goals. However, the Pirates did exceed their norm for turnovers, as they gave it up 15 times after averaging less than 13 for the season.

After being outrebounded in the first half by the smaller Hawks, the Pirates finished the game with a 40-32 advantage on the glass.

Defensively, ECU held Chowan to only 33 percent shooting from the floor, including 20 percent from long range.

Next, East Carolina (5-8) travels to Oklahoma for its Conference USA opener with a much improved Tulsa team on Wednesday night.