The Owls were in the nailbiters all week and brought home two victories.
The Owls traveled to East Carolina University for three games in three days against Georgia Southern, Northeastern, and East Carolina starting Nov. 19. through Nov. 21.
In its first action against mid-major opponents, Owls men’s basketball would not leave empty-handed.
The tournament started Sunday, Nov 19. with in-state opponent Georgia Southern, whom the Owls had lost to all-time. The game was tight throughout but the Owls had the lead for most of the regulation. Good free throw shooting and ball protection down the stretch gave the Owls a 96-92 win. Freshman Frankquon Sherman led the way with a career-high in his young career with 21 points. Quincy Ademokoya was valuable off the bench for the Owls, scoring a season-high 16 points. The win was the first over Georgia Southern in program history.
“I’m just happy for my guys more than myself. I wasn’t thinking about anything else but just being there for them and putting them in the best position to win,” Head Coach Antione Pettway said. “It means a lot, and I didn’t know but it’s our first time beating those guys. It means a lot to our school and our program.”
In game two, the Owls took on the 2-2 Northeastern Huskies on Monday, Nov 20. The Owls jumped out to a double-digit lead in the first half, but Northeastern rallied before the break to make the halftime score 43-42 in favor of the Owls.
The second half was close from start to finish. Northeastern had a chance to possess the ball last and win the game but turned the ball over out of bounds. With under five seconds remaining, Terrell Burden went the length of the court to set up a shot for Demond Robinson that he hit at the buzzer to give the Owls a 79-77 win.
“I was about to call timeout and Terrell Burden said no coach, I got you,” Pettway said. “He got a full-speed run and dropped it off to Demond. I told Demond you’re gonna win this game for us. That dude just keeps playing every single night.”
The final game of the tournament was against the host East Carolina. ECU was touted as the best team in the tournament and brought a real home atmosphere. Despite everything that seemed to be stacked against them, the Owls got out to another double-digit lead in the first half thanks to solid three-point shooting. Similar to Northeastern, ECU rallied before the half to cut the Owls lead to 47-43 headed into the locker room.
The second half was once again tight throughout, but the Owls found themselves with one final chance to win the game. Burden was once again called on in the clutch and delivered a layup with just 2.5 seconds remaining. Unfortunately, ECU converted a miracle half-court shot to break the hearts of the Owls 85-84.
“Man I just love the way our guys competed. That’s the third game in three days and you couldn’t tell,” Pettway said.”We compete the way we compete in practice for a reason and we showed it today.”
The Owls left Greenville with a 2-1 record, making them 4-3 on the young season.
The Owls play Georgia State again on Dec. 2 at home, looking for another win.
