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Mustangs Rally Past Pirates, 46-41 For Fourth Straight Win
Papa Dia had 13 points and 13 rebounds to lead SMU.

Feb. 2, 2011

DALLAS (AP) - SMU did not allow a field goal for the final 14 minutes Wednesday against East Carolina, outscoring the Pirates 23-6 during that span to rally for a 46-41 victory.

The Mustangs (14-8, 5-3 Conference USA) prevailed despite scoring their fewest points since a 49-45 loss to UTEP on Jan. 6, 2010. The 46 points was SMU's lowest point total in a victory since a 44-38 win over Texas A&M on Feb. 11, 1992.

East Carolina (12-10, 4-4) led 35-23 after Jontae Sherrod's 3-pointer with 14:02 remaining, but missed its final 13 field goal attempts and turned the ball over nine times during that stretch. The Pirates got their only points during that span on six free-throw attempts, and shot just 25.5 percent from the field for the game.

Brock Young had 15 points for East Carolina, which was held to its lowest point since a 74-40 loss to Clemson on Dec. 29, 2004.

Papa Dia had 13 points and 13 rebounds to lead SMU.

at SMU 46, East Carolina 41
SMU Mustangs (14-8, 5-3), East Carolina Pirates (12-10, 4-4)
February 2, 2011
Moody Coliseum
Dallas, Texas

NEXT GAME: SMU hosts Tulane on February 9 at 7 p.m.

TEAM NOTES
- SMU extends win streak to four games
- Set longest league win streak since joining Conference USA
- With the win, SMU matched its win total from last year (14)
- Did not allow a FG in the final 14:02 (outscored ECU 23-6 during that span)
- Fourth time this season SMU has held opponent under 50 pts
- Fourth time this year SMU has overcome a 13+ point deficit, third time in conference

INDIVIDUAL NOTES
Papa Dia
- Scored 13 pts
- Is now 26th all-time at SMU in career points (1188)
- Grabbed 13 rebounds
- Moved into 8th all-time at SMU in career rebounds (769)
- Had 16th game with 8+ rebounds and 10th game with 10+ rebounds
- Has grabbed 8+ rebounds in 12 of the past 13 games
- Had his 9th double-double of the season and 22nd of his career
- Reached double-digits for the 20th time this season

Robert Nyakundi
- Scored 9 points
- Added two rebounds and a steal

Jeremiah Samarrippas
- Scored 10 points
- Collected 4 assists
- Had 3 steals
- Has collected 25 assists and only 9 turnovers in the past four games (2.8 Ast./TO)

Mike Walker
- Scored 12 points
- Second straight game in double-figures
- Was a perfect 3-3 FG including 2-2 3FG

Dispute a four game win streak, we are still middle of the pack in CUSA. Really need to beat Tulane next Wed.

Revenge is sweet PonyTE. I believe we will smoke them.

i hate to say it (or jinx it for that matter), but Doh really seems to be growing as a coach. I came to that conclusion after watching this postgame...Using assistants...keeping a pulse on the team...whoa

Blvd_Stang wrote:i hate to say it (or jinx it for that matter), but Doh really seems to be growing as a coach. I came to that conclusion after watching this postgame...Using assistants...keeping a pulse on the team...whoa

I came to the same conclusion too. He finally gets it.

Looking at his job history, this is the first head coaching job where he has been at longer than 3 years (1 at ND, 3 at UNC, 1 at Florida whatever) He is really having the chance to grow with coaches and his own players.

Terry Webster wrote: He is really having the chance to grow with coaches and his own players.

Well, isn't that special. Maybe you could discuss some self-esteem issues. The guy is weird. Admit it.

My favorite part of the press conference linked above starts with "...when I was an inexperienced head coach..."

He goes on to say that he consults his assistants first before laying into his guys, and he didnt do that before.