Feb 4, 2003

Box Score

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) - Rodney Carney scored career-high 22 points Tuesday night as Memphis built a double-digit lead early in the second half and was never threatened in a 73-49 win over East Carolina.

Carney led a strong outside shooting attack for the Tigers, who hit 11-of-28 shots from 3-point range. Jeremy Hunt added 15 for Memphis (13-5, 4-3 Conference USA) and Anthony Rice finished with 13.

The outside shooting eventually cleared the lane for Chris Massie, Memphis's leading scorer, who finished with 10 points and 16 rebounds.

Memphis, which hit 14 3-pointers in its win Saturday over Southern Mississippi, has won three of its last four.

The Pirates (11-9, 2-7) lost for the seventh time in eight games and were hampered by a 29 percent shooting performance. Gabriel Mikulas was the only East Carolina player in double figures with 14 points. No other Pirates player had more than six.

Memphis led 39-27 at the half. Seventeen of the Tigers' 32 first-half shots were from 3-point range as the Pirates were content to use a zone defense, collapsing on Massie.

The active, hand-waving zone allowed Massie only two shots in the first half.

Carney had 11 for Memphis in the half, while Rice added 10.

Mikulas led the Pirates with 10.

Carney added to his total in the first 12 minutes of the second half, hitting nine points in an opening stretch as Memphis built its lead to 56-35 with about eight minutes remaining.

East Carolina put together a run of eight points to cut the lead to 13 with 3:30 remaining but could not get any closer.