Meyer’s 29 Leads Blazers to OT Win At East Carolina

Andy Kennedy had a pertinent question after his team found a way to escape with an 87-85 American Conference win in overtime at East Carolina.

“How do you win a conference road game in 45 minutes making three three-pointers and scoring 87 points?” Kennedy said during his postgame appearance on Blazer Sports Network from Learfield after Jacob Meyer provided the winning points on a 15-foot jumper.

He actually chipped in another pertinent question before providing the answer.

“How is that even possible?” Kennedy added.

The answer came in other numbers from the Blazers second consecutive Sunday conference overtime victory. Numbers like turnovers with ECU committing 17 and UAB only losing it eight times and points off those turnovers, which UAB led 14-6.

“I'll tell you how (UAB won),” Kennedy continued. “How about outscoring them 10 in the paint. We were plus four on second chance points. We're plus nine on fast break points. I thought we were really good with turnovers leading us to opportunities, especially in the second half when we were up 10 and couldn't seal it in regulation.”

Before getting to the second half ECU comeback, some more pertinent numbers, this time from individuals. Meyer reached a season-high with 29 points in 41 minutes. He made 12-of-20 from the field, 1-of-3 3-pointers and hit all four free throws. He also added five rebounds, two assists, two steals and one turnover. KyeRon Lindsay-Martin had 20 points, seven rebounds, two blocked shots and an assist. He was 9-for-15 from the field and hit two of his three free throws before fouling out with 3:11 left in overtime. Much of Lindsay-Martin’s work came against 6-foot-10, 262-pound Giovanni Emejuru.

“He was a welterweight fighting a heavyweight, fighting a super heavyweight,” Kennedy said. “I mean, (Emejuru) is big, man. He's got him by two inches vertically. He's probably got him by three or four from a length standpoint and he probably outweighs him about 30 pounds. So Kye is fighting up in a weight class and I thought he did yeoman's work.”

For most of the second half, it looked like overtime wouldn’t be needed. Largely thanks to Meyer and Lindsay-Martin, who combined for 21 second half points, the Blazers were able to stretch a 39-37 halftime lead to as many as 12 points. Jordan Riley, who had a game-high 30 points, led the way ECU chipped away at the lead. The Pirates finally took a 74-73 lead on a pair of Emejuru free throws with 2:29 left. UAB rebuilt the lead to two possessions after a follow shot by Daniel Rivera and three-point play by Lindsay-Martin with 1:20 left. Riley countered with a bucket but Rivera answered with a layup after a nice pass from Chance Westry.

UAB had a chance to potentially ice the win with Westry at the free throw line and 20 seconds on the clock. But Westry missed both free throws and ECU hustled down for a 3-pointer by Isaiah Mbeng to tie the game at 79 with eight seconds remaining. After a timeout, Westry drove the length of the court and got a shot in the paint that was blocked to send the game into overtime.

Meyer had six of the Blazers’ eight points in halftime with Evan Chatman’s layup providing the other points. Chatman’s bucket gave UAB its first overtime lead – at 83-82 - with 2:51 remaining. ECU answered with a 3-pointer by Tybo Bailey seven seconds later to take an 85-83 lead. Meyer hit a mid-range jumper on the following possession to tie the score with 2:20 remaining. Both teams failed to score again until Westry rebounded his own miss and fed the ball to Meyer, who drove and pulled up for a 15-foot jumper with 16 seconds left. Chatman deflected a pass on the other end, taking seconds off the clock, and Riley had to take a contested shot over Salim London. Rivera grabbed the rebound just before time expired.

“We ended up leading the game for almost 27 minutes and, again, were up (12),” Kennedy said. “I thought we were playing really well in the second half and then we just had some really, really head-scratching decisions with our shot selection. And then we had some ticky-tack fouls and we couldn't secure some loose balls. But overall, guys, listen, ECU is a proud team, man. It's hard to win in here. We came in here last year and weren't able to get it done. So I'm just proud of our guys to get it over the finish line.”