March 3, 2012

Box Score

Box Score | 2012 C-USA Men's Basketball Championship Bracket

East Carolina 66, Tulane 49

1st 2nd F East Carolina 26 40 66 Tulane 22 27 49

Quick Stats  Stats  East Carolina  Tulane FG (Made/Attempts) 24-50 (.480) 17-45 (.378) 3P (Made/Attempts) 4-15 (.267) 4-20 (.200) FT (Made/Attempts) 14-17 (.824) 11-18 (.611) Rebounds (O-D) 39 (11-28) 22 (5-17) Assists 16 10 Turnovers 14 13 Fouls (tech/flagrant) 20 (0/0) 16 (0/0)  Game Leaders  Stats  East Carolina  Tulane Points M. Kemp - 22 R. Tarrant - 16 Rebounds M. Kemp - 10 J. Davis - 8 Assists M. Paul - 5 R. Tarrant - 4 Steals Two tied - 2 R. Tarrant - 4 Blocks Two tied - 2 Two tied - 1

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From wire and staff reports

GREENVILLE, N.C. -- Maurice Kemp recorded a double-double and Darrius Morrow had 19 points as East Carolina beat Tulane 66-49 on Saturday in the regular season finale for both teams.

With the victory, the Pirates earned the No. 10 seed at the 2012 Conference USA Men's Basketball Championship tournament and will play seventh-seeded Rice Wednesday at 1 p.m. EST at the FedExForum in Memphis.

Kemp finished with 22 points and 10 boards for East Carolina (14-15, 5-11 Conference USA), who handed Tulane its sixth straight win. Kemp and Morrow combined to make 13 of East Carolina's 14 free throws.

After spotting the Green Wave a five-point lead, the Pirates went on a 20-7 run to take a 20-12 lead with 8:43 left before halftime. Erin Straughn tied the game at 11 with a 3-pointer. Robert Sampson then put the Pirates ahead to stay with a 3 of his own at the 7:58 mark of the first half.

East Carolina led 26-22 at halftime before opening up a 39-29 lead behind a 13-6 run. Paris Roberts-Campbell extended the Pirates' halftime lead to seven with a 3, followed by a Morrow dunk, jumper from Kemp and two Morrow free throws to give ECU its first double-digit lead of the game.

Morrow's basket with 7:42 to play moved him into fourth-place on the school's all-time scoring list. During his 121-game career, Morrow has scored 1,490 points. Tulane (15-15, 3-13) cut the deficit to 47-40 with 6:20 left to play but East Carolina used another run, this time 9-1, to take a 15-point lead, 56-41, with 3:07 remaining. Back-to-back breakaway dunks by Morrow and Kemp ignited the outburst before Paul capped it with a 3.

Ricky Tarrant had 16 but no other Tulane player scored over nine points as the Green Wave struggled from the field, hitting just 17-of-45 shot attempts.

East Carolina posted its largest rebounding margin of the season against a Division I foe this season as it out-rebounded Tulane 39-22, and out-scored the Green Wave 30-22 in the paint.

The Pirates also recorded seven steals to tie the school single-season record for steals in a season with 233, equaling the mark established by the 1990-91 squad.