ECU Coasts to 52-39 Win Over USF
Caleb White scored 12 points, Lance Tejada had 11 and B.J. Tyson tossed in 10 to lead East Carolina to a 52-39 win over South Florida Wednesday night in the Sun Dome.
ECU(12-18/4-22 AAC) hit just 36 percent from the field, but it proved to be enough when compared to South Florida's 28 percent shooting including just 1 of 14 from the arc and 8 of 18 from the charity stripe.
Jaleel Cousins managed to score 13 points to lead the Bulls(7-23/4-13 AAC) while Chris Perry tossed in nine points and Angel Nunez had eight.
East Carolina played without Kentrell Barkley who was out due to suffering from flu like symptoms. The Pirates got off to a fast start on two baskets from B.J. Tyson along with buckets from Lance Tejada and Michael Zangari to gain an early 9-5 lead. A lead that would expand to 17-9 midway into the first half.
Behind Chris Perry and Jaleel Cousins, USF cut the Pirate lead to six at 19-13. But Prince Williams tossed in a three-point bomb and Tyson scored again in transition on a pass from Prince Williams to extend the ECU lead to nine. Then Tyson scored again on a put back and the lead was thirteen before a Cousins tap-in for his eleventh first half point cut the lead to ten at halftime, 26-16.
B.J. Tyson led the Pirates with eight points at intermission.
Despite scoring consecutive baskets on a pair of ECU goal tending violations, B.J. Tyson's basket along with a pair of free throws from Kanu Aja after drawing Cousins’ fourth foul of the game at the 12:10 mark found the Pirates up by fourteen at 36-22.
ECU then blew the game wide open over the next four minutes. A pair of Lance Tejada baskets including a long trey from the left arc and a Caleb White bomb from the top of the key ballooned the Pirate lead to 46-25 at the 8:37 mark.
Chris Perry’s hook and a jumper from Angel Nunez trimmed ECU’s lead to 17 with less than two minutes to go and a McMurray three ball for USF’s first trey of the game in fourteen attempts cut the lead to 52-27. Two free throw from Nunez further ate into the ECU lead but the Pirates held on for their fourth conference win of the season.
