Dec. 3, 2005
NORFOLK, VA--Senior guard Isaiah Hunter (Charlotte, NC) scored 20 points for the second consecutive game to lead the Old Dominion Monarchs to a 79-53 win over visiting East Carolina in front of a season-high crowd of 7,020. The Monarchs improved to 5-1 with the win, while the Pirates fell to 3-2 on the year. Senior forward Alex Loughton (Perth, Australia) scored 12 points and grabbed 10 boards for his second straight double-double effort, and third of the season.
East Carolina would have their only lead in the game when they went up 5-4 with 17:37 left in the first half. After losing that lead, the closest the Pirates would get to the Monarchs was 13-12 at the 11:01 mark in the first half. Hunter's fast break lay-in followed by a three pointer at the 2:14 mark jumpstarted a 15-3 Monarch run that took the score to 46-23.
ODU's 11-3 run late in the second half gave them their largest lead of the evening 79-48, with 2:07 remaining in the game. Two free throws by Loughton and a lay-up from freshman forward Jonathan Adams (Ringold, GA) were the key plays during this spurt.
For the Monarchs, junior forward Arnaud Dahi (Ivory Coast, Africa) poured in 16 points off of 5-8 shooting, and snared seven rebounds. On the year, Dahi has connected on 38 of his 58 field goal attempts for a .655 shooting percentage, and is shooting .533 from three-point land (8-15). Hunter dished out five assists to go with his game-high 20 points, to tie for the team high with junior forward Brian Henderson (Richmond, VA). Hunter also connected on 4 of his 5 trey attempts and went 8-12 overall on the night.
Corey Rouse led the East Carolina effort on this night, scoring 14 points off of 6-8 shooting and grabbing nine rebounds. Courtney Captain added 12 points for the Pirates.
As a team, the Monarchs shot .467% from the field. ODU also outrebounded East Carolina 49-27 and dished out more assists by an 18-7 margin.
The Monarchs kick off conference play Wednesday night as they host George Mason at the Ted Constant Convocation Center. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. ODU's next home game will take place Saturday December 17th as they host DePaul.