East Kentucky wins home opener
Published on November 19, 2007 under Continental Basketball Association 1 (CBA 1)
East Kentucky Miners News Release
PIKEVILLE, KY. - Host East Kentucky jumped out to a 9-0 lead and held visiting Pittsburgh scoreless until the 8:55 mark of the opening quarter Sunday evening en route to a commanding 112-98 win in its home opener at the East Kentucky Exposition Center. The Miners never trailed in their first-ever home game after falling 123-118 in overtime Friday night on the road in a season opener versus the Xplosion.
East Kentucky - one of four Continental Basketball Association (CBA) expansion teams - doubled Pittsburgh up 36-18 in the opening quarter. The Miners took a comfortable 62-44 lead into halftime.
Josh Pace led East Kentucky with a game-high 22 points. Boo Jackson turned in a double-double of 20 points and 10 rebounds for the Miners. Marcus Heard also had 20 points for the host team. Bryant Northern scored 19 points as four Miners netted double figures in the scoring department.
"This was a great win in front of a phenomenal home crowd," said first-year East Kentucky Coach Kevin Keathley. "Coming into the game we knew we wanted to get up and down the floor and put points on the scoreboard. Our guys played extremely hard and we were able to do just that."
Defensively, East Kentucky was limited Pittsburgh on more than one offensive possession.
"It's good anytime you can hold a team under 100 points on this level," Keathley added.
Shawn Fountain and John DeGroat each had 19 points for Pittsburgh. Five different members of the Xplosion reached double figures in the scoring column. Antonio Graves netted 18 points and Odell Bradley added 15.
The Miners led 84-70 at the end of the third quarter.
East Kentucky prevailed 5-2 in the quarter points department. The attendance for East Kentucky's home opener was 2,217.
Continental Basketball Association 1 Stories from November 19, 2007
- East Kentucky wins home opener - East Kentucky Miners
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