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GREENSBORO -- If nothing else, UNCG is giving coach Mike Dement plenty to think about in the early going.

In the wake of an 82-61 loss to East Carolina in the Greensboro Coliseum on Saturday, some freshmen, plus one veteran, presented intriguing cases for increased playing time.

UNCG (1-4) absorbed its second loss on its new home floor. Exact attendance was unknown; instead of turnstile count, UNCG is listing "tickets out," which for this game was 2,231. The crowd was considerably smaller than that.

Two positives came out of the game for the Spartans. One was the play of senior guard Kendall Toney, who came off the bench to score 19 points after managing 12 in the first three games. The second was a group of three freshmen -- Korey Van Dussen, Brian Cole and Kyle Randall -- who spurred a second-half rally that cut the lead to one.

"I thought that one group was excellent coming out of halftime," Dement said. "They were scrapping and making things happen, coming up with loose balls.

"I did like the energy that these guys brought. We're still searching for some combinations of who plays, how many minutes, things of that nature."

In a 21-point loss, naturally, there were some negatives. The Spartans shot so poorly in the first half (23.5 percent on 8-of-34) that Dement felt it affected their defense, leading to numerous easy ECU baskets.

And UNCG never found a way to handle Pirate guard Brock Young, who scored 15 points, recorded seven assists and grabbed five rebounds.

"We couldn't stay in front of him," Dement said, "and when we tried to get it out of his hands, he made all the right passes and created a lot of easy shots to their big guys and a lot of easy shots to their wings."

Darrius Morrow was the main beneficiary of Young's penetration, scoring a career-high 22 points on 9-of-11 shooting.

ECU (3-4) built a 37-23 halftime lead, thanks in part to UNCG missing open shot after open shot. But then UNCG's freshman trio helped trim the deficit to 46-45 in the first seven minutes of the second half by creating scoring opportunities off loose balls.

Van Dussen had an open 3-pointer that would have given the Spartans the lead, but he missed and it led to a 3-point transition basket by Young.

"Coach is always telling me be ready to shoot," said Van Dussen, who finished with 13 points and five assists in his best performance of the season. "and I've got to knock that down for the team."

EAST CAROLINA (3-4)

FG FT Reb

Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts

Morrow 35 9-11 4-7 4-9 1 1 22

Wynn 22 5-8 0-0 3-6 0 2 10

Young 36 5-9 3-3 0-5 7 3 15

Abrams 33 5-10 1-2 1-3 1 2 15

Sherrod 30 4-8 1-2 1-5 4 4 10

Sargent 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0

Gaines 1 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0

Turner 10 1-4 0-0 0-2 1 2 2

Straughn 6 0-1 0-0 0-2 1 1 0

Ellison 4 0-0 0-0 0-1 0 0 0

Salzano 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0

Joyner 22 3-3 2-2 1-4 1 1 8

Totals 200 32-55 11-16 10-40 16 16 82

Percentages: FG .582, FT .688. 3-point goals: 7-19, .368 (Abrams 4-8, Young 2-3, Sherrod 1-4, Straughn 0-1, Gaines 0-1, Turner 0-2). Team rebounds: 3. Blocked shots: 4 (Abrams 3, Joyner). Turnovers: 14 (Young 5, Wynn 3, Sherrod 2, Turner, Abrams, Morrow, Joyner). Steals: 5 (Morrow 2, Young, Abrams, Sherrod).

UNCG (1-4)

FG FT Reb

Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts

Stywall 34 0-7 3-4 2-5 2 3 3

Brown 23 0-3 2-2 0-2 0 2 2

Koivisto 11 0-4 0-0 0-0 0 2 0

Randall 29 6-16 0-0 3-4 1 2 13

Evans 15 2-7 1-2 2-5 0 0 5

Sellers 3 0-0 1-2 0-0 0 0 1

VanDussen 25 4-8 5-5 1-1 5 0 13

Smith 6 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 1 0

Hardiman 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0

Bone 6 1-2 0-0 1-3 0 2 2

Toney 30 6-11 3-3 0-4 2 0 19

Cole 15 1-3 1-2 1-3 0 3 3

Jackson 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0

Totals 200 20-63 16-20 13-30 10 15 61

Percentages: FG .317, FT .800. 3-point goals: 5-21, .238 (Toney 4-9, Randall 1-3, Smith 0-1, VanDussen 0-1, Evans 0-3, Koivisto 0-4). Team rebounds: 3. Blocked shots: 1 (Bone). Turnovers: 10 (Stywall 3, Randall 3, Evans 2, Smith). Steals: 10 (Randall 2, Stywall 2, Cole 2, VanDussen, Koivisto, Evans, Brown).

East Carolina 37 45 -- 82

UNCG 23 38 -- 61

A--2,231. Officials--Steve Pyatt, Jeb Hartness, Brian Shea.