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GREENVILLE, North Carolina (Ticker) -- Travis Holcomb-Faye scored 15 points to lead East Carolina to a 51-46 upset victory over ninth-ranked Marquette in a Conference USA matchup. The win was East Carolina's (12-16, 5-10 C-USA) fourth in its last five games, fifth straight at home and its first ever against a top-10 opponent since 1960. It was Marquette's second straight loss and just the third time this season the Golden Eagles (23-5, 12-3) lost to an unranked opponent. Dwyane Wade drilled a jumper at the end of the first half, making it 27-20 at halftime for Marquette. But the Golden Eagles went cold in the second half and managed just 19 points. Wade scored 15 of his 19 points in the first half to lead Marquette, which was eliminated from contention for the C-USA American Division title. The Golden Eagles led 40-28 with 12:42 left in the second half before the Pirates went on an 18-4 to take their first lead of the game. Moussa Badiane's basket capped the spurt. Badiane, a 6-10 freshman, scored 10 points and blocked five shots, marking the eighth time this season he has blocked five. He is the first player in school history to have multiple five-block contests in a season. Kenyatta Brown gave East Carolina a four-point advantage with 3:07 left in the game as the Pirates held Marquette scoreless for nearly seven minutes until Oluoma Nnamaka's dunk with 33 seconds left, cutting the Golden Eagles deficit to 48-46. After a free throw by Holcomb-Faye's gave the Pirates a three-point lead with 17 seconds left. Marquette's Scott Merritt missed a 1-and-1 opportunity and Brown iced the game 10 seconds later with a dunk as the 7,242 fans at Minges Coliseum celebrated. Brown scored 10 points. Marquette jumped out to a 9-0 lead 2:59 into the game as Wade scored points. East Carolina came with 18-13 with 6:06 remaining but the Golden Eagles pushed it back to seven at intermission. Wade was the only player in double figures for the Golden Eagles, who shot 35 percent (9-of-26) in the final 20 minutes. Odartey Blankson scored nine points and Jon Harris had six off the bench. Marquette dropped both C-USA contests in North Carolina, also falling at Charlotte in the league opener. |
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