Box Score CHARLESTON, S.C. – For the first time the season, USC Upstate out-rebounded its opponent, but it was the Pirates of East Carolina that came away with the victory, 75-67, on the third and final day of the 2010 Charleston Classic on Sunday inside the Carolina First Arena.
The Spartans out-rebounded the Pirates 43-36, including 19-7 on the offensive glass. However, Upstate started the game 0-for-20 from beyond the three-point arc, a statistic that hindered the Spartans all game.
"They out played us toward the end of the first-half and at the beginning of the second-half," said head coach Eddie Payne. "To start the second-half, we failed to come out with the level of intensity that we needed to and the deficit quickly grew from one to eight."
With Upstate owning a 27-21 lead with 5:27 to play in the first half, ECU was able to wrap a 24-8 run around halftime as the Pirates pulled ahead by 10, at 45-35, with 15:21 remaining.
Upstate was able to narrow the gap to just five twice, the final time coming as Carter Cook (Clemmons, N.C./Calvary Baptist Day School) hit a jumper with 9:51 remaining trimming the ECU lead to 50-45. The Pirates were able to keep the Spartans at bay the remainder of the game as ECU owned a margin of at least six points down the stretch.
"We started 0-for-20 from beyond the arc and some of those weren't good shots," Payne added. "Our team didn't utilize our inside-out game during key stretches and that hurt us. I was proud of Marquis and Chandler today, they combined for just one turnover as they ran the point for us most of today. Also, Torrey had a great tournament as he knocked down a lot of key shots and he has the ability to be a very special player for us."
Upstate didn't connect on its first three-point attempt of the game until the 1:36 mark of the second-half when Torrey Craig (Rock Hill, S.C./Great Falls HS) connected on the 21st attempt of the day for the Spartans.
The Spartans were able to connect on three more treys in the final minute of the game, but it was too little, too late for Upstate, who entered Sunday shooting nearly 35 percent from beyond the three-point arc.
Craig, for the third-consecutive game, recorded a career-high as the freshman scored 19 points to go along with a career-best eight rebounds.
Tony Dukes (Ellenwood, Ga./Atlanta Metropolitan), as he has done the previous four games, scored the first basket of the game for the Spartans. This time Dukes switched it up as he scored on a jumper from just outside the paint to give Upstate an early 2-0 advantage. The previous four occurrences for Dukes had been three-pointers.
Upstate was able to push the lead to 6-0, on four consecutive free throws by Craig. ECU didn't hit its first basket of the game until the 17:47 mark when Darrius Morrow was successful on his layup attempt.
The two teams battled to a 21-21 tie with 8:48 remaining when ECU's Jamar Abrams connected on a three-pointer. Neither team held a lead of more than three points until Upstate took a 27-21 lead late in the first half.
Aside from Craig's 19 points, the Spartans were led offensively by Ricardo Glenn (Augusta, Ga./Richmond Academy) and Marquis Sloan (Greenville, S.C./Greenville HS) who posted six points each. Glenn also finished with seven rebounds against the Pirates.
The Pirates were led by Jontae Sherrod who finished with 17 points thanks to a 15-for-17 effort from the charity stripe. Jamar Abrams finished with 16 points and seven rebounds to help ECU claim its second win of the brief series between the Pirates and the Spartans
It was the first time in his career Eddie Payne faced his old team. Payne lead the 1992-93 Pirates, a seven-seed, to the Colonial Athletic Association championship as East Carolina advanced to the 1993 NCAA Tournament.
Upstate will return to action on Tuesday night as the Spartans play their sixth game in 11 days when they travel to Columbia, S.C., to face South Carolina for a 7:00 p.m. tip.
