Pirates Outduel Tulane To Earn First Round Bye

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Minges Coliseum • Greenville N.C. • Attendance: 4,461

GREENVILLE, NC March 7, 2013 – Maurice Kemp scored 29 points and Akeem Richmond added 21 off the bench to lead East Carolina past Tulane, 88-85, inside Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum Wednesday night.

With the victory, East Carolina (17-11, 8-7 C-USA) clinched the No. 4 seed and a first round bye in next week’s Conference USA Championship.

The Pirates trailed by one at halftime, 41-40, as Tulane (18-12, 6-9) shot 51.6 percent (16-31) in the opening frame and made 5-of-8 3-pointers (.625). Junior Josh Davis had a double-double in the first half with 15 points and 10 rebounds. Davis finished with the game with 23 points and a career-best 16 rebounds.

The Green Wave scored the game’s first seven points and built a nine-point lead in the first five minutes. Tulane held the lead for more than 12 minutes until Richmond made his first of five 3s on the night to give ECU a 25-24 advantage with 7:23 left in the half.

There were three lead changes over the next six minutes before the half ended with Tulane on top.

East Carolina opened the second half on a 15-4 run to lead by 11, 56-45, less than five minutes into the second stanza. Miguel Paul, who was held scoreless in the first half, scored five of his 13 points during the run with Paris Roberts-Campbell sinking a pair of 3-pointers.

Campbell made a career-high five 3-pointers just like Richmond, who broke the school’s single-season record for 3s and is now up to 87 on the year. Campbell scored all 15 of his points outside the arc.

Tulane rallied to tie the game at 65 with 10:00 to play and regained the lead less than three minutes later on a jumper in the lane by Ben Cherry, 72-71.

Following two made free throws by Ricky Tarrant, the game was deadlocked at 76. Richmond made one of free throws to untie the game and a succession of six lead changes ensued.

Richmond put the Pirates ahead to stay, 84-82, with a 3 from the wing with 1:58 remaining. He then made two free throws to push their lead to four with 18 seconds left.

After a loose ball scramble, Tarrant picked up the ball and made a 3 with seven seconds left to make it a one-point game. Paul was fouled on the inbounds play and then calmly sank a pair of foul shots with four seconds left to seal the victory.

Paul handed out 11 assists for his fifth double-double of the year.

The Pirates shot 53.6-percent from the floor in the second half and Tulane connected on 58.3-percent of its attempts. ECU finished the game at 49.1-percent and Tulane ended the game at 54.5-percent.

Both teams shot the ball extremely well outside the arc. Tulane made 9-of-13 (.545) 3-point shots and the Pirates drained 14-of-24 (.500).

Tarrant scored 20 points for the Green Wave and Jordan Callahan added 17. Louis Dabney also came off the bench to score a career-best 11 points.