The Cougars’ chances of weathering the ECU comeback were hurt when Zamal Nixon fouled out late in the second half.| Newton Liu/The Daily Co
The Cougars dropped their third straight contest 74-71 at East Carolina, as a 13-point second half lead slipped away Saturday in Greenville, N.C.
The Cougars (11-9, 3-4 Conference USA) scored first and held the lead for the entire game until Jamar Abrams put the Pirates ahead with 1:46 left. The Cougars advantage eroded during a six-minute span in the second half that saw the Pirates go on a 20-4 run. ECU (12-9, 4-3) was 11-13 from the free-throw line during that stretch.
Fouls killed the Cougars in the second half; they put themselves in the penalty at the 11:32 mark, and the Pirates took full advantage of opportunity, connecting on 24-of-28 second-half free throws. The Pirates shot and made 15 more free throws than the Cougars, which made up for the Pirates 4-24 performance from deep.
The Cougars outshot the Pirates by a good margin from the floor – 49.1 percent to 37.5.
Maurice McNeil and Alandise Harris had strong performances in the post for the Cougars, but Kendrick Washington’s play was inconsistent. Washington committed four fouls in 20 minutes of action and was 3-9 from the field. McNeil posted his seventh double-double of the season with 18 points and 12 rebounds. Harris had a nice bounce back game, going 6-7 from the field and 4-6 from the line to tally 16 points and five rebounds.
The loss drops UH to eighth in C-USA, but they stand only two games behind UTEP (17-5, 5-2).
The Cougars will take on Marshall at 8 p.m. Tuesday at Hofheinz Pavilion.
