SMU Pulls Away From ECU in Second Half | Eastern North Carolina Now

Publisher's note: This post appears here courtesy of the news and information section for East Carolina University men's and women's sports.


    DALLAS     Tyson Jolly scored 17 points and the first of his five 3-pointers kicked off a 10-0 run for the Mustangs as SMU pulled away from East Carolina 84-64 Wednesday night at Moody Coliseum.

    Kendric Davis added 15 points with nine assists and Ethan Chargois posted 12 points as SMU (14-4, 4-2 American Athletic Conference), earned its fifth straight home victory. Isiaha Mike added eight points, five rebounds and six assists.

    Brandon Suggs made the game's opening basket - a 3 from the wing - before Jolly and Mike answered with back-to-back 3s as the Mustangs ran off 10 unanswered points.The Pirates managed to keep their deficit around 10 points the majority of the second half until SMU put together a 12-4 run to go up by 17 with 21 seconds left in the first half.

    ECU sophomore Tremont Robinson-White hit a 3 just before the halftime buzzer to cut the Pirates' deficit to 14, 40-26, at intermission.

    East Carolina opened up the second half on a 9-1 run to pull within six, 41-35, only to see the Mustangs construct another 10-0 run to lead by 16 with less than 14 minutes to play. SMU's advantage never dipped below 12 the remainder of the game.

    The Mustangs posted a season-high 15 3-pointers -- second most in school history. In addition to five from Jolly, C.J. White made three while Mike and Chargois sank two each. SMU finished 15 of 31 outside the arc.

    Jayden Gardner and Suggs each scored 18 points for East Carolina (8-111, 2-4), which suffered its third straight loss after opening conference play at 2-1. Tristen Newton added 15 points with six assists. Gardner led with nine rebounds.

    The Mustangs shot 55 percent for the game and the Pirates connected on 43 percent of their attempts with SMU winning the battle of the boards by 11 (37-36).

    ECU returns home to face Tulane inside Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum on Saturday, Jan. 25, at 6 p.m.

    POSTGAME NOTES

• Gardner led the Pirates in scoring (tied with Suggs) for the 10th time in the last 11 games and 14th overall this season. He alos led the team in rebounding for the eighth time in the past 11 games and 15th time overall.
• Gardner played in his 50th game at ECU tonight and scored 18 points to bring his career scoring total to 896 points, third-most points in school history through 50 career games.
• Suggs scored a career-high 18 points, besting his previous high of 16 points in two previous games. He also led the team in scoring (tied with Gardner) for the second consecutive game.
• Newton scored double digit points for the fifth time this season and second time in four games. His 15 points were most since dropping 18 on Evansville on Nov. 23.
• Newton handed out six assists, one shy of matching his season-best seven against Eastern Kentucky.
• ECU used the starting lineup of Robinson-White, Tyrie Jackson, Suggs, Gardner and Coleman for the fifth time making it the most used starting five this season.