GREENVILLE — East Carolina remained unbeaten at home and against nonconference competition with a 73-64 win over James Madison on Saturday in Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum.
Brandon Suggs made seven of 13 field goal attempts and led a balanced Pirates attack with 18 points.
Bitumba Baruti hit five of nine from the floor and five of six at the line for 16 points with a team-high seven rebounds.
ECU got 14 points, six rebounds and five assists from Tristen Newton.
Jayden Gardner practiced Friday after leaving a 70-55 loss at SMU on Wednesday night with a bruise. Gardner had 13 points and five rebounds.
Tremont Robinsion-White and Tyrie Jackson had six points each. Robinson-White dealt out seven assists.
Matt Lewis led JMU (2-2) with 19 points and Justin Amadi added 10.
Gardner’s driving layup put ECU ahead to stay at 12-10 with 13:06 left in the half. The Pirates led 33-25 at the break.
ECU’s largest lead was 59-43 with 7:21 to go.
The Pirates went 26 of 59 from the field for 44.1 percent, six of 18 from beyond the arc (33.3 percent) and 15 pf 19 at the line (78.9 percent). JMU held a 38-33 rebounding edge but had more turnovers, 19-14.
ECU improved to 6-0 against nonconference competition and 5-0 at home.
The Pirates are 6-1 overall and 0-1 in the American Athletic Conference going into a league game at home on Tuesday at 3:30 p.m. against Tulane. The Green Wave (4-1, 0-1 AAC) topped Grambling State, 77-65, on Saturday.
like a box score for each game.
Charles: A direct link to the ECU athletic department’s official box score is among the links at the bottom of each game story published by Bonesville. — Danny Whitford, Editor