GREENVILLE — Bobby Pettiford Jr. hit a shot from beyond half court at the buzzer to give East Carolina an 85-84 win over Kennesaw State in the TowneBank Holiday Classic on Tuesday night in Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum.
Ezra Ausar inbounded to Pettiford after Terrell Burden had scored for an 84-82 Owls lead with 2.5 seconds left.
“I just got it,” said Pettiford on the Pirates radio network, “My hand has been kind of bothering me. … I’ve been kind of battling that. To be able to shoot that far today, that was all thanks to the Man above.”
A video clip of Pettiford’s dramatic shot comes to us courtesy of The Sports Objective.
It wasn’t the first buzzer beater for Pettiford, a Kansas transfer who played on the high school level at South Granville. He hit a reverse layup off a tipped rebound with 0.2 seconds remaining in overtime to give the Jayhawks a 69-68 win over Wisconsin in the Bahamas on Nov. 24, 2022.
The Pirates (4-2) trailed 32-18 with 9:11 left in the first half.
“We kept talking about being gritty down the stretch,” said ECU coach Mike Schwartz. ” … They played in the NCAA Tournament (last season), but our guys stayed the course.”
R.J. Felton had 19 points and 10 rebounds as the Pirates went 2-1 in the TowneBank event. Pettiford totaled 18 points. Ausar had 14 points and nine rebounds. Jaden Walker finished with 13 points and 11 rebounds. Brandon Johnson added nine points and seven rebounds.
ECU had a 47-37 rebounding advantage and made 28 of 40 free throws compared to eight of 16 for the visitors.
Kennesaw State (4-2) was led by Burden with 19 points, eight rebounds and six assists.
The Pirates play their first road game of the season on Saturday at 2 p.m,. at George Mason (4-1). The matchup will be shown on ESPN+.
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