Published: January 06, 2009 10:55 am      

Tigers fall at St. Gregory's

Shawnee — Senior guard Tyler Thetford knocked down six 3-pointers and finished with a team-high 19 points, but East Central couldn’t overcome 13 treys by St. Gregory’s as the Cavaliers rolled by the Tigers 96-78 Wednesday in men’s non-conference basketball play at the W.P. Wood Field House.

ECU, which dropped to 4-6 on the season, also received 13 points on 6-of-9 shooting from senior center Ian Adams, along with 11 points apiece from Dontae Figgs and Wees Badley.

SGU, 1-8, placed four players in double figures, led by Josh Coulter’s game-high 26 points. Kyle Lulko added 22 points as he canned 6-of-10 long-range tries.

Jade Carter tossed in 18 points and pulled down 12 rebounds as eight came off the offensive glass. Derek Washington chipped in 16 points, including a pair of 3-pointers for the Cavaliers, who were coming off a 101-67 loss at NCAA Division I Lamar two nights earlier.

Freshman Cory Nicholson contributed nine points for the Tigers and Justin Wilkerson finished with just six, but snatched nine rebounds, handed out five assists and blocked two shots.

SGU shot 47 percent from the floor overall and were even a better 62 percent from 3-point territory. The Cavaliers also held a 41-37 rebounding edge, but collected 18 offensive boards as they compiled numerous second-chance points.

ECU never held a lead in the game as SGU jumped out to an early 5-0 lead. The Tigers were down by just a slim 40-39 margin, before the Cavaliers went on a 9-2 run in the final 1:30 of the first half to take a 49-41 advantage at the break.

A Carter 3-pointer to start the second half pushed the SGU lead to 52-41 as ECU was unable to cut the deficit to single digits the rest of the way.

The win by the Cavs avenged an earlier season loss to the Tigers, 103-96, on Nov. 5. That game counted as an exhibition for ECU.

The Tigers were scheduled to return to Lone Star Conference crossover play on late Saturday as they visited Tarleton State. A full report on that contest will be included in Monday's edition of The Ada Evening News.