GREENVILLE — East Carolina never gave South Florida realistic hope of avenging a 67-65 loss in Tampa on Jan. 3 as the Pirates took control early and defeated the Bulls 90-52 Wednesday night in an American Athletic Conference contest in Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum.
The rout unfolded before a sparse crowd (2,857) due to snowy weather.
ECU (8-10, 2-5 AAC) jumped out to a 19-3 lead in the first seven minutes and was on top 44-18 at halftime.
The largest lead was 42 points with just under three minutes to go.
Interim Pirates coach Michael Perry left his top players on the floor at the end of a 65-49 loss to Houston on Sunday afternoon and the result was an 18-4 closing run that Perry hoped would carry over against the Bulls (7-12, 0-6).
Redshirt freshman Shawn Williams came off the bench to lead ECU with 22 points on eight of 12 shooting from the floor that included six of nine marksmanship from behind the arc.
Kentrell Barkley made eight of 12 field goal attempts as he scored 18 points, collected 10 rebounds and had seven assists.
B.J. Tyson contributed 11 points. Adding 10 points each were Isaac Fleming and freshman Dimitri Spasojevic. Fleming accumulated 10 assists.
Jabari Craig’s line included seven points, seven assists and three blocked shots. Usman Haruna had four points and five rebounds.
K.J. Davis and Aaron Jackson each had three points. John Whitley added two points. Justice Obasohan blocked a pair of shots.
The Pirates made 35 of 57 field goal attempts for 61.4 percent. ECU was 11 of 19 on 3-pointers (57.9 percent) and dropped nine of 12 free throws (75 percent).
The Pirates held a 33-19 rebounding advantage.
Tyson scored on a jumper 21 seconds into the game and ECU led the rest of the way.
Stephan Jiggetts paced USF with 15 points. David Collins had six assists in the setback.
The Pirates step up in competition to face AAC leader Cincinnati (16-2, 5-0) on Saturday at 4 p.m.
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