GREENVILLE — East Carolina came back from an eight-point deficit late in the first half to take a 66-65 American Athletic Conference win over Tulane on Thursday night in Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum with 3,616 on hand.
Freshman Jayden Gardner had 15 points and nine rebounds as the Pirates ended a five-game losing streak.
ECU (9-11, 2-6 AAC) went ahead to stay on a layup by Gardner that provided a 55-54 advantage with 4:20 remaining. Isaac Fleming scored the next five points for the Pirates for a 60-54 lead with 2:53 left.
Shawn Williams hit a pair of free throws with five seconds to go to allow ECU to withstand a 30-foot 3-pointer by Tulane’s Jordan Cornish that closed the scoring.
“Things weren’t going well,” said Pirates coach Joe Dooley. “We settled down and made some plays. I thought the guys stepped up and made the good basketball plays to enable us to win.”
The Green Wave fell to 4-16 overall and 0-8 in league play.
Fleming had six assists for ECU, which committed just seven turnovers compared to 16 for Tulane.
Seth LeDay contributed 13 points for the Pirates. Fleming scored 11. Dimitrije Spasojevic had 10 points and five rebounds. K.J. Davis added nine points and five rebounds.
Caleb Daniels led the Green Wave with 17 points. Kevin Zhang had 14 points for the visitors. Cornish and Moses Wood had 10 points each. Wood grabbed eight rebounds before fouling out. Cornish had five assists.
ECU visits Connecticut on Sunday for a 2 p.m. tipoff. The Huskies are 12-8 overall and 3-4 in the AAC with an 11-2 record at home.
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