Nov. 26, 2005

Final Stats

CHARLESTON, WV- The University of Charleston outlasted the Elizabeth City State Vikings 74-67 Saturday night in the final game of the 2005 Embassy Suites Classic in Charleston, West Virginia.

The Vikings, who dressed only eight players on Saturday, controlled the tempo from the outset by executing their half court offense. Unlike the previous night where ECSU struggled to find their offense, subsequently falling victim to the up-tempo style of West Virginia State, the Vikings via ball sharing shot 53 % from the field (15-28) in the first half. Unfortunately their depleted roster got in foul trouble sending the Golden Eagles to the free throw line where they connected on 10 of 15 shots helping the host team to a 40-35 lead at the intermission.

In the second half the Golden Eagles would try to put the Vikings away a few times only to have ECSU fight back on each occasion. Despite leads of between 8 and 10 points on ten different occasions in the second half the Golden Eagles would catch breaks when costly Viking turnovers foiled each of their chances at completing the comeback down the stretch. A big part of the second half runs came from the spark of Courtney Castro and Ben Bridges. After a scoreless first half Castro scored seven straight points to keep the Vikings in it while Bridges led all scorers with game highs of 24 points (14 of which came in the second half) and 10 rebounds. Mitchell Moffatt contributed 11 points for the Vikings while Eric Smith paced the Golden Eagles with 17. Charleston improves to 3-0 on the year while ECSU falls to 1-4 overall.

The Vikings will return to action on Tuesday, December 6, 2005 as they will host Barton College for their first home game of the 2005-06 basketball season. For more information on ECSU athletics, log onto www.ecsuvikings.com.