GREENVILLE — East Carolina stopped a six-game losing streak with a 69-66 American Athletic Conference win over Tulsa on Wednesday night.
Kentrell Barkley had 19 points and 11 rebounds as the Pirates improved to 10-11 overall and 2-6 in the AAC.
Junior Etou had 31 points and 12 rebounds for the Golden Hurricane (11-8, 5-2).
ECU had its largest lead with 8:14 remaining at 56-43 after two free throws by Andre Washington, who had eight points, 12 rebounds and three blocks in 19 foul-plagued minutes.
Freshmen Elijah Hughes and Jeremy Sheppard contributed 12 and nine points, respectively, for the Pirates. Sheppard had four assists.
Caleb White scored eight points.
Deng Riak had six points and 11 rebounds as ECU had a 49-39 advantage on the boards. Michel Nzege had five points in 14 minutes.
Etou missed a tying 3-point attempt with seven seconds left.
Tulsa was averaging 30.3 points in the paint in its last 16 games but was outscored 24-16 by the Pirates in that category. The Golden Hurricane had just two points in the paint at the half as ECU led 29-24 at the break.
The Pirates were without coach Jeff Lebo due to hip surgery and leading scorer B.J. Tyson, who is out with a knee injury.
ECU’s last win was Dec. 28 by a 60-49 margin at home against South Florida.
“The kids couldn’t be more excited,” said interim coach Michael Perry. ” . . . They’ve worked so hard. It’s great to see them have that emotion.”
ECU travels to Memphis for a 3:30 p.m. tipoff Saturday.
“We rejoiced,” Barkley said. “But we’ve got to keep working and build on this.”
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