GREENVILLE — East Carolina ended a 5-game losing streak with a 76-66 American Athletic Conference win over Tulsa in Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum on Tuesday night.
Brandon Johnson had 24 points and eight rebounds as the Pirates came back from a 32-27 halftime deficit.
R.J. Felton had 23 points in ECU’s first triumph since a 79-69 victory at Wichita State on Dec. 31. Benjamin Bayela had 11 points.
The Golden Hurricane had its largest lead at 34-27, but ECU went ahead to stay at 49-48 on a 3-pointer by Bayela with 7:35 remaining.
Johnson and Felton each went 10 for 17 on field goal attempts as the Pirates made 27 of 54 from the floor for 50 percent.
“I know the ball went in the basket, which always helps, but I was proud of our team’s defense in the second half,” said ECU coach Mike Schwartz on the ECU radio network. “To hold them to 38.5 percent shooting in the second half, I thought that was really important for us.”
The Pirates finished with a 40-23 rebounding advantage as Bayela had eight and Ludgy Debaut grabbed seven.
Kaib LaCount, a 5-8 freshman guard, had eight points, four rebounds, four assists and three steals as ECU was without leading scorer, sophomore guard Javon Small, for the third full game due to a knee ailment.
Quentin Diboundje hit six of eight free throws for six points and Jaden Walker made all four of his foul shots in the last 1:36 for four points.
Tulsa (5-14, 1-7 AAC) was led by Bryant Selebangue with 18 points. Tim Dalger scored 15 in the loss and Anthony Pritchard added 10.
Selebangue had 10 rebounds and Pritchard had seven assists.
The Pirates (11-10, 2-6) host Wichita State on Sunday at noon. The Shockers (10-9, 3-4) will be at home to take on Tulane on Wednesday night.
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