East Carolina 74, Virginia Tech 67
by Will Stewart, TechSideline.com, 12/27/03
Norfolk, VA -- East Carolina broke Virginia Tech's four-game winning streak, pulling away in the last few minutes of a tightly-contested game in the Constant Center in Norfolk, Virginia. The Hokies were led by Brant Matthews with 21 points and Zabian Dowdell with 17.
The Hokies (7-4) were coming off of four straight wins but struggled in the early going against ECU (7-1), who returned all five starters from a team that hammered Tech 76-60 last year. ECU took a 31-22 lead late in the first half, but a technical foul on Tech coach Seth Greenberg seemed to fire up the Hokies, who closed the gap to 34-28 at half time.
VT continued to battle back, eventually taking a 52-49 lead on a three-pointer by Matthews a little over halfway through the second half. Matthews would only score one more point the rest of the way, though. The Hokies committed a critical defensive mistake when Markus Sailes committed a foul on a made ECU three-pointer with 4:11 left to go. ECU hit the free throw, pushing a narrow 62-58 lead out to 66-58. The Hokies were not able to get closer than four points the rest of the way, and that came with 19.9 seconds to go, 70-66.
Tech was outrebounded 41-31 but still managed to outshoot ECU, taking 60 shots to 52 for the Pirates, thanks to 14 offensive rebounds by VT. But ECU hit 25 of their 52 shots (48.1%), while Tech made just 22 of their 60 shots (36.7%). Both teams shot horribly from the free throw line, VT going 17-of-34 (50%) and ECU 16-of-28 (57.1%).
Three-point defense was again a trouble spot for the Hokies, with ECU making 8 of 17 three-pointers (48%). Tech hit just 6-of-23 three-pointers (26.1%). On the positive side of the ledger, the Hokies took good care of the basketball, totaling just 10 turnovers to 18 for ECU.
Virginia Tech only plays one game in the next 17 days. The Hokies will travel to Pittsburgh for a January 6th date with the Panthers at 7 p.m. Pittsburgh is currently 12-0 and ranked 16th in the nation. For television information for the game, click this link.
After taking on Pittsburgh, the Hokies will travel to Morgantown to face WVU on January 14th.
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East Carolina 74, Virginia Tech 67
12/27/03, Norfolk, VA
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
East Carolina................. 34 40 74
Virginia Tech................. 28 39 67
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EAST CAROLINA (74)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
E Bing 33 4-8 5-7 4-14 1 3 14
G Mikulas 38 4-7 6-9 2-11 1 2 15
M Badiane 18 2-2 0-0 2-8 1 5 4
D Wiley 34 7-14 1-1 3-4 0 3 17
M Cook 30 6-11 0-2 0-3 6 4 14
B Rivers 25 2-6 2-5 1-1 5 3 8
F Robinson 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 0
J McNeill 9 0-2 0-0 0-0 1 2 0
L MacKay 4 0-2 0-0 0-0 1 1 0
C Rouse 7 0-0 2-4 0-0 0 3 2
_____________________________________________________
TOTALS 200 25-52 16-28 12-41 16 27 74
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Percentages: FG-.481, FT-.571. 3-Point Goals:
8-17, .471 (E Bing 1-3, G Mikulas 1-1, D
Wiley 2-3, M Cook 2-4, B Rivers 2-5, L MacKay
0-1). Team Rebounds: 2. Blocked Shots: 1 (C
Rouse). Turnovers: 18 (M Cook 5, B Rivers 3,
D Wiley 3, E Bing 2, J McNeill 2, M Badiane,
C Rouse, F Robinson). Steals: 7 (G Mikulas 2,
B Rivers 2, E Bing, D Wiley, M Cook).
VIRGINIA TECH (67)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
B Matthews 34 6-14 7-12 3-7 3 4 21
C Collins 32 5-12 4-9 4-7 0 3 14
Z Dowdell 36 7-15 0-1 1-3 3 2 17
J Gordon 22 1-7 0-0 0-4 1 3 2
M Sailes 29 0-0 1-2 1-4 5 4 1
M Lattimore 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 0
A Calloway 19 1-3 2-5 2-2 0 5 4
S Harris 15 2-6 3-5 2-3 1 3 8
P McCandies 12 0-3 0-0 1-1 0 1 0
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TOTALS 200 22-60 17-34 14-31 13 26 67
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Percentages: FG-.367, FT-.500. 3-Point Goals:
6-23, .261 (B Matthews 2-8, Z Dowdell 3-8, J
Gordon 0-4, S Harris 1-3). Team Rebounds: 7.
Blocked Shots: 6 (B Matthews 3, P McCandies
2, Z Dowdell). Turnovers: 10 (J Gordon 4, B
Matthews 2, Z Dowdell 2, A Calloway, C
Collins). Steals: 10 (B Matthews 4, Z Dowdell
3, A Calloway, J Gordon, M Sailes).
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EAST CAROLINA 34 40 - 74
VIRGINIA TECH 28 39 - 67
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Technical fouls: None. A: 3,277. Officials: Donnie
Gray, Ed Corbett, Michael Kitts
2003-2004 Men's Basketball Schedule/Results