TAMPA — East Carolina outscored host South Florida 38-30 in the second half as the Pirates notched their first American Athletic Conference win of the season, 67-65, on Wednesday night.
Kentrell Barkley led a balanced scoring effort with 16 points as ECU evened its overall record at 7-7 while moving to 1-2 in the AAC.
Barkley made six of 13 shots from the field.
B.J. Tyson added 14 points. Jabari Craig had 13 points and eight rebounds.
Isaac Fleming supplied 12 points and six assists.
A 3-pointer by Tyson put the Pirates ahead to stay at 65-62 with 2:04 remaining. ECU did not allow a field goal by the Bulls (7-9, 0-3) the rest of the way.
Stephan Jiggetts had a game-high 18 points for USF and Terrence Samuel tallied 15.
The Pirates made 24 of 53 field goal attempts for 45.3 percent, including five of 15 from beyond the arc, 33.3 percent.
ECU dropped 14 of 19 free throws for 73.7 percent.
USF was 23 of 50 from the floor for 46 percent and made nine of 17 on its 3-point tries for 52.9 percent.
The Bulls were 10 of 12 at the line for 83.3 percent.
USF had a 32-26 rebounding advantage but the Pirates took exceptional care of the basketball, committing just six turnovers to 14 for the Bulls.
ECU continues league play at Connecticut on Saturday at noon.
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