East Carolina drops overtime heartbreaker at Richmond, 71-67

Pirates' sunk by 16-of-29 performance from the free throw line

CUSA-fans.com has a new staff of team correspondents this fall 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 Morgan State.

It looked like the Pirates might win their first game at Richmond in their last 14 trips to the Robins Center. Instead, Chris Mooney’s resilient young Spiders made their first game at UR one to remember by erasing a seven-point deficit in the last 5:21 of regulation before winning, 71-67, in overtime.

It was primarily Ricky Stokes’ club failure to hit free throws that caused it to be on the short end of this 71-67 overtime thriller.

East Carolina (1-1) was in position to win despite shooting only 55 percent (16 of 29) from the free throw line.

The game was nip and tuck the entire way, as neither team led by more than seven. There were also six ties and five lead changes. This was largely due to both teams’ woes from the free throw line. UR was not much better than ECU, making 16 of its 26 attempts.

The Pirates jumped out to an 8-3 lead, but Richmond quickly erased that deficit and didn’t trail the remainder of the half.

Senior Courtney Captain led the Pirates with 11 first half points and helped keep East Carolina within three at the break at 34-31. He finished the game with 22 points, which led all scorers, while also pulling down seven boards.

East Carolina decided at halftime that it needed to use the quickness of its guards and attack the basket.  The Pirates did an excellent job of this, but could not convert the free throws so it largely went for naught. 

In the second half, ECU took a 43-41 lead with 15:25 remaining. Over the next ten minutes, it built the lead to seven.

Trailing 59-52 with 5:21 left, the Spiders began to chip away at the Pirates’ lead.

UR cut it to one with 43 seconds remaining when Dan Geriot knocked down a jump shot. The Spiders then fouled East Carolina’s Darrell Jenkins with 10 seconds to play. The Pirates’ point guard looked silky smooth in knocking down two clutch free throws, as neither of them touched the rim.

Needing a three-pointer to tie, Chris Mooney’s club got an excellent look when the Pirates’ on-ball defender Courtney Captain slipped just across the midcourt stripe.

Geriot, who had 14 points in the game, stepped up and knocked down the game-tying trifecta with only 2.6 seconds to go.

Neither team could score in the first two and a half minutes of overtime, but East Carolina freshman Gabe Blair ended the drought with a jumper from around the free throw line.

Richmond’s Duncan McLean made two free throws to knot things at 63 with just over two minutes remaining.

Following their key stop of the Pirates, the Spiders’ Ryan Butler drained a three-pointer from the top of the key that gave UR a 66-63 advantage with 1:12 to play. This is a lead they would not relinquish.

ECU’s Courtney Captain hit two free throws with 35 seconds left to pull his team within one at 66-65. However, six seconds later UR extended the lead to 3 on a Peter Thomas lay-up.

Two more Captain free throws with 15 seconds remaining pulled the Pirates within one again.

After Brian Morris sunk his two free throws, the Pirates had the ball with 14 seconds left and a chance to tie. However, as they were working the ball around the perimeter, newcomer Cory Farmer slipped in front of the Pirate bench with four seconds left and ECU didn’t even get a shot up.

In addition to Captain, East Carolina had two other players in double-figures.

Sam Hinnant finished with 13 points and five rebounds, as he knocked down two of his five attempts from behind the arc.

True freshman Gabe Blair posted Corey Rouse-like numbers on the glass. The Pirates’ talented youngster grabbed 15 boards in the contest to go along with his ten points, which gave him his first double double in the purple and gold.

The Spiders placed four players in double figures. Peter Thomas, who finished with 16 points and seven rebounds, led them. Freshman guard Brian Morris only made two of ten shots, but made seven of nine free throw attempts. He finished two assists shy of a triple-double in his first game as a Spider, scoring 11 points and 10 rebounds to go along with his eight assists.

East Carolina rebounded the basketball much better than it did versus Morgan State, finishing with a 45-34 advantage on the boards.

In the end, the missed free throws and scoring drought down the stretch were too much for this young team to overcome, particularly on the road.