CINCINNATI — Exceptional 3-point shooting helped Cincinnati to an 83-55 American Athletic Conference win over East Carolina at Fifth Third Arena on Wednesday night.
The Bearcats went 10 for 14 from behind the arc in the first half for 71.4 percent and forged a 38-25 lead at intermission.
The hosts finished 14 for 26 from long range (53.8 percent) in improving to 12-6 overall and 3-2 in the AAC.
ECU (10-8, 1-4) got a game-high 23 points from Javon Small.
The Pirates were down 10-4, but put together a 6-0 run to tie the score at 10.
Cincinnati went ahead to stay at 13-10 on a three by Jeremiah Davenport with 11:30 left in the first half.
“They’re a really good shooting team and we knew that,” first-year ECU coach Mike Schwartz said on the Pirate radio network. “You let a team get going like they did in the first half … It’s disappointing that we let them get some of those looks. They earned a lot of them.”
ECU hit just four of 19 from long distance and was on the short end in most categories on the stat sheet.
The Bearcats had a 44-27 rebounding advantage and made fewer turnovers, 9-10.
Ezra Ausar had 10 points and a team high eight rebounds for the visitors. Quentin Diboundje netted nine points, all in the first half. Small distributed five assists.
Landers Nolley II led the hosts with 20 points and 10 rebounds. Davenport totaled 16 points. David DeJulius had 11 points and 12 assists.
The Pirates will be home Sunday at 1 p.m. to take on South Florida (ESPN2). The Bulls (7-10, 0-4) are coming off an 83-77 loss at No. 1 Houston on Wednesday night.
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