Box Score


GREENVILLE, N.C. (NCCUEaglePride.com) – With both Dominique Sutton (Durham. N.C.) and Ray Willis (Atlanta, Ga.) spending most of the night in foul trouble, North Carolina Central University nearly came all the way back from a 19-point second half deficit behind a career-high 25 points from Ebuka Anyaorah (Suwanee, Ga.) in dropping an 84-76 decision to East Carolina University in front of 6,341 purple and gold clad fans in attendance inside Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum on Thursday night.
 
Anyaorah finished the evening with an astounding 5-for-7 mark from three-point range tying ECU’s Miguel Paul for the game-high as Paul also ended up with a career high 25 points but did it by shooting 15-of-17 from the free-throw line.
 
NCCU put itself behind the eight ball early in the fifth meeting between these two teams as Sutton and Willis both recorded two early fouls and found themselves on the bench with more than 15 minutes to go in the first frame. In fact, Sutton recorded his third foul just six minutes later and played just 10 minutes in the first half, while Willis logged just seven minutes.
 
Despite all that, the Eagles found themselves up four at 26-22 with 8:06 to go, capping off a 13-4 spurt after the Pirates took their largest lead of the half at 18-11 with 13:30 to go.
 
The main culprit in keeping the Eagles in the ballgame despite the 12-to-6 foul discrepancy, Anyaoarah, was the only player to record double-figures in the first 20 minutes scoring 14 points on 6-of-10 shooting.
 
NCCU actually shot 53.8 percent in the first half (14-of-26) and trailed by only four at 39-35, even though the Pirates scored 15 of their 39 points from the charity stripe.
 
ECU picked up the shooting from the outside in the second half hitting 6-of-12, and Sutton registered his fourth foul on a controversial call with 17:54 remaining, which jolted the Pirates to a 13-to-4 run that concluded with a technical foul on head coach LeVelle Moton putting ECU up 61-42 with 13:20 to go, their largest lead of the night, seemingly ending any hopes of an Eagle upset.
 
That’s when the resilient Eagles strapped it up and scratched themselves back in the game to the dismay of the Pirate faithful.
 
Over the next six minutes, NCCU went on an 18-6 run aided by sophomore Jeremy Ingram’s (Charlotte, N.C.) nine second half points cutting the deficit to six at 66-60 with 7:40 to go. 
 
Following an Erin Straughn three-pointer that stretched the margin back out to nine, a Sutton three-point play, and an Anyaorah three[point basket cut the deficit to five at 71-66 with 5:05 remaining in the tilt.
 
Two of Paul’s 15-made free throws pushed the margin back out to seven, and the Eagles answered right back following a Nick Chasten (Raleigh, N.C.) jumper that cut the margin back to five at 73-68 with 3:12 left in the second stanza.  Chasten scored in double figures for the fifth time this season finishing with 13 points in the game.
 
After an Eagle defensive stop, Anyaorah missed a point-blank layup in which the Pirates took advantage as Shamarr Bowden hit one of his five three-pointers to put the Eagles away for good at 76-68 and 2:14 remaining in the tilt.  Bowden finished 5-for-9 from the outside on the evening.
 
The Eagles continued to fight in the waning moments, but the deficit was too much to overcome dropping the contest 84-76, moving their record against East Carolina to 0-5.
 
The difference in the ballgame came on the foul line with ECU shooting an impressive 32-for-39 (82.1 percent) from the charity stripe, while the Eagles were a meager 14-for-24 (58.3 percent) from the foul line in the loss.
 
All in all, three Eagles fouled out with Sutton ending the night scoring 13 points in only 20 minutes of action, Ingram adding nine crucial second half points with three assists, while Willis ended up with a disappointing five points and attempted only two shots in the loss.
 
The Eagles outscored the Pirates in the paint 36-to-20, and turned the ball over just three times in the second half.  Sophomore point guard Emanuel Chapman (Raleigh, N.C.) dished out nine assists in the tough loss.
 
NCCU (7-7) will celebrate the New Year before diving back in to MEAC (Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference) play against Florida A&M University on Sat., Jan. 7 at 4:00 p.m. from McDougald-McLendon Gym.
 
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