GREENVILLE, N.C. -- A frantic second half rally came up just short on Tuesday night as East Carolina held on to defeat Old Dominion 63-62 at Williams Arena in Minges Coliseum.
"We competed tonight but had too many self-inflicted mistakes," said Old Dominion Head Coach Jeff Jones. "In order for us to be the team we want to be, we need to eliminate those mistakes and stick together. If we do that, we can get through this stretch okay."
The Monarchs trailed 61-54 with 3:50 left on a 3-pointer by Tristen Newton and began an 8-0 run. Mekhi Long started the run with a jumper at the 3:19 mark and missed the three-point opportunity. He hustled after the loose ball and putback a Kalu Ezikpe miss to bring the Monarchs to 61-58 with 3:03 on the clock.
Ezikpe blocked a layup on the defensive end and hit a driving layup with 2:05 left as ODU trailed 61-60. The defense forced a missed jumper and C.J. Keyser responded with a step back jumper to give the Monarchs a 62-61 lead with 50 seconds remaining. Brandon Suggs hit a driving layup with 34 seconds left for the final bucket.
In a first half that saw East Carolina not hit its first 2-point basket until 7:19 left, the Pirates more than made up for it in 3-pointers draining 11-of-15 in the opening 20 minutes.
The Monarchs opened the game quickly jumping out to a 10-4 lead early on an Austin Trice layup with 15:16 remaining. That advantage grew to 12-5 after a C.J. Keyser layup with 14:30 on the clock.
East Carolina found its groove going on a 19-2 run over the next nearly six minutes to take a 23-14 lead after a 3-pointer from Vance Jackson with 8:44 left. ODU (3-5) responded on a 10-2 run with a pair of Kalu Ezikpe free throws to trail 25-24 at the 5:22 mark.
Keyser was the leading scorer with 19 points and five rebounds, while Ezikpe had 12 points and eight rebounds. Jackson had a game-high 21 points going 6-of-7 from 3-point range to lead East Carolina.
Old Dominion now heads to George Mason for a Saturday night 7pm tip in Fairfax.
Second Half Charge Comes Up Short In Loss To East Carolina
