Pirates Cruised to a 72-55 Victory over Tulsa in Opening Round of CBE Classic
Simpson and West combined for 47 points in Pirates 72-55 victory over Tulsa. (Photo by Mark Sutton)
Simpson and West combined for 47 points in victory.
11/11/2007 11:49:37 PM
College Park, MD - The Pirates of Hampton University (1-0, 0-0 MEAC) opened their 2007-08 season in College Park, MD as they took part in the 2007 O'Reilly Auto Parts CBE Classic. The Pirates opened up against the University of Tulsa (0-1, 0-0 C-USA) Golden Hurricane. The Pirates were picked to finish a top of the MEAC this preseason and the Golden Hurricane are coming off of a 20 wins season, their best under current head coach Doug Wojcik.
The Pirates controlled the flow of the game from start to finish. Hampton was led by sophomore Vincent Simpson, who scored 25 point in 22 minutes of play. Simpson was aided heavily by senior guard Rashad West, who dropped 22 points and snatched five rebounds in the Pirates victory. The Golden Hurricane were led by Ben Uzoh who had 13 points and four rebounds for Tulsa.
Hampton scored 34 first half points on shooting just 36.7% from the floor. The Pirates only committed five turnovers in the first half, an improvement from their first game last season when they had 25 turnovers. West led both team in scoring in the first half with 14 points.
In the second half, the Pirates never looked back as they shot 50% from the floor and 50% from beyond the three point arc. Hampton came out in the second half more focused, and it showed as they scored 38 points and held Tulsa to just 27.
Once it all was said and done, the Pirates had three players in double figures in Simpson (25), West (22) and Matthew Pilgrim (11), who also grabbed seven rebounds in the victory. Hampton scored 18 points in the paint, 15 points off of 19 Tulsa turnovers, and an impressive 28 points off the bench. The Pirates held the Golden Hurricane to just 34% shooting from the floor on the night.
The Pirates advanced on to the finals of the College Park region of the CBE Classic, where they will face the Terrapins of University of Maryland. The Pirates took on the Terrapins last season and fell 102-75, but they look to make it a more interesting game this time around. Game time is set for 9:00 pm and will be covered on ESPNU. For more information, visit
www.cbeclassic.com or go to
www.hamptonpirates.com for updates on all HU athletics.
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