Tyson leads Pirates past Memphis

By Al Myatt
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Post-game Audio: Lebo, Pastner, Robinson, Tyson...

GREENVILLE — Freshman B.J. Tyson led a second-half surge by East Carolina that produced a 64-53 American Athletic Conference win over Memphis before an appreciative crowd of 4,519 in Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum on Tuesday night.

Tyson scored 20 of his game-high 23 points in the final 20 minutes as the Pirates overcame a 25-21 deficit at the half.

The left-handed guard hit 10 of his 14 field goal attempts as ECU improved to 11-13 overall and 4-7 in league play.

After making just seven of 26 from the floor (26.9 percent) in the first half, the Pirates warmed up to connect on 16 of 24 shots on the second half (66.7 percent) to finish at 46 percent for the game.

A layup by Paris Roberts-Campbell with 5:23 to go put ECU ahead to stay at 50-49.

Just as Memphis had done in a 70-58 home win over the Pirates on Jan. 28, ECU went on an 8-0 run to close the game.

Sophomore Caleb White added 11 points as ECU won its third straight AAC home game. It was the Pirates' second win over the Tigers, the first coming by a 68-57 margin on March 2, 2011 in Jeff Lebo's first season as coach of the Pirates.

Memphis was without leading scorer Austin Nichols due to an injury. ECU had a 39-16 lead in bench scoring.

Shaq Goodwin had 13 points and 12 rebounds for the Tigers (14-10, 6-5). Nick King also scored 13 for Memphis.

Terry Whisnant had seven points for the Pirates. Antonio Robinson's line included six points, six rebounds, six assists and three steals. Kanu Aja had six points and Michael Zangari added five.

ECU visits Temple for a 2 p.m. tipoff Saturday, a matchup to be shown on the CBS Sports Network. The Owls upped their record to 18-7 for the season and 9-3 in league play by turning back visiting Cincinnati 75-59 on Tuesday night.

PAGE UPDATED 02/11/15 03:16 AM.

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