On Saturday afternoon, the Pirates welcomed a Gardner-Webb team that was winners of four straight. The first half was nothing but bad offense as both teams had long scoring droughts and a lot of turnovers. But the Pirates came out strong in the second half and finally made some free throws down the stretch.
The Bulldogs started out shooting well as they made five of their first seven from the floor. However, they cooled off quickly making only five of their last nineteen to finish the half. The Bulldogs were able to go into the locker room with a four point lead thanks to a scoring drought by ECU where the Pirates went nearly eight minutes without a field goal. The Pirate defense played well as they forced nine first half turnovers which they were able to turn into eleven points.
The Pirates came out of the locker room a new team, outscoring the Bulldogs 10-4 in the first 3:07 of the second half. This gave them their first lead of the game 33-31 after a pair of 3’s from JJ Myles as part of a night where he shot 5-9 from beyond the arch.. The Pirates kept rolling throughout the rest of the half shooting 46% from the field and 82% for the free throw line. The big story story of the second half was the Pirates out rebounded the Bulldogs 24-13. Tristen Newton went 4-4 from the Free throw line in the last minutes to seal the deal.
The Pirates are now winners of three in a row and are now 6-0 at home. They will host NC A&T on Tuesday night and the look to keep rolling after a 62-52 Win against Gardner-Webb.