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No. 13 Men's Basketball Falls In C-USA Opener
Dec 30, 2002
By AARON BEARD
GREENVILLE, N.C. - Derrick Wiley made a pair of foul shots to break a tie with 32 seconds left and East Carolina beat No. 13 Marquette 73-70 Monday night, upsetting the Golden Eagles for the second straight season at Minges Coliseum.
Gabriel Mikulas had 22 points and 11 rebounds for East Carolina (9-2), which hadn't played since losing 90-71 at Coastal Carolina on Dec. 23.
Erroyl Bing had 16 points and Wiley added 14 for the Pirates. The victory set off an on-court celebration by the first sellout crowd at Minges since 1969.
Last season, East Carolina beat ninth-ranked Marquette 51-46 at home to earn its first win against a top 10 team.
Dwayne Wade led Marquette (8-2) with 21 points in the Conference USA opener for both teams.
Down 70-61 with 2:24 left, Marquette rallied with nine straight points to tie it.
Wiley put the Pirates back in front 72-70 after drawing a foul by driving on Wade.
After Wade missed a short jumper from the right wing with about 10 seconds left, Moussa Badiane increased the margin to three on a free throw with 9.5 seconds left.
Marquette had a chance to tie it, but Steve Novak and Wade missed 3-point shots in the final seconds.
The Pirates came into the game as one of the top defensive teams in C-USA, holding opponents to 38 percent shooting and 57 points per game. Their defense helped them back into this game late in the first half after trailing by 10 points, and they controlled the boards by a 43-31 margin.
Trailing 35-33 at halftime, East Carolina pushed ahead 53-47 after an alley-oop slam by Wiley off a pass from Belton Rivers on the fast break, followed by a 3-pointer from Rivers with 12:44 to play.
The Pirates increased the lead to 70-61 on a slam from Badiane off a feed
from Mikulas with 2:24 left.
Marquette, however, responded with a 9-0 run, including a pull-up 3-pointer from Travis Diener at the 1:36 mark to close to within 70-66. Robert Jackson then hit a jumper from the right corner followed by two free throws with 43 seconds left to tie it. |
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