University of Houston Athletics
University of Houston
East Carolina (C-USA Tourney)
Men's Basketball Beats East Carolina, 58-49
3/6/2002 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
March 6, 2002
By JOE KAY
AP Sports Writer
CINCINNATI - Louis Truscott scored 11 of his game-high 15 points in the second half Wednesday as Houston rallied for a 58-49 victory over East Carolina in the first round of the Conference USA tournament.
Houston (17-13) overcame a 13-point deficit late in the first half to earn a quarterfinal matchup against Memphis (22-8) on Thursday.
East Carolina (12-18) stunned the Cougars by pulling out to a 25-12 lead with 5:20 left in the first half, but the Pirates' undependable offense disintegrated. The Pirates finishedin the conference in scoring (60.4 points per game), field-goal shooting and 3-point shooting.
Houston is the best-shooting team in the conference, making 47.6 percent from the field, but the Cougars couldn't get any shots to go in at the outset. They missed 14 of their first 16 as East Carolina pulled ahead by double digits.
It looked like they were headed for a repeat of their 63-46 loss at East Carolina on Feb. 23, when the Pirates held them to 29.6 percent shooting.
Jonathan Moore's 3-pointer put East Carolina ahead 25-12 with 5:20 left in the first half, but the basket became a turning point as Houston closed with a 13-1 spurt. Bryan Shelton's floating jumper with 1 second to go cut East Carolina's lead to 26-25 at halftime.
Truscott's fastbreak layup put Houston ahead 27-26 at the start of the second half, and the lead went back-and-forth for the next 10 minutes. There were four ties and seven lead changes as both teams dug in with zone defenses.
Houston went ahead to stay with a nine-point run that made it 48-40 with 6:42 left. George Williams had a dunk and another up-close basket during the spurt, which was set up by two Pirates turnovers.
Kenyatta Brown's driving bank shot cut it to 54-49 with 1:25 to go, but the Pirates missed their next two shots, forcing them to foul. Patrick Okafor hit two free throws with 25 seconds left, and Truscott closed it out with a dunk.
Travis Holcomb-Faye led East Carolina with 12 points on 4-of-14 shooting.
