GREENVILLE — East Carolina sailed into uncharted waters in terms of its program history with an 81-67 win over Tulane in Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum on Sunday.
R.J. Felton scored 21 points and Brandon Johnson tallied 20 as the Pirates improved to 7-6 in league play with their third straight triumph in the American Athletic Conference.
It is the most conference wins for ECU since joining the American in 2014.
“We’ve been able to play three of our most complete games over the last three on both sides of the ball,” said Pirates coach Mike Schwartz. “Defensively, today, against a team that’s as good an offensive team as there is in this league.”
The Green Wave (13-12, 4-9 AAC) had been averaging 84.5 points per game, 11th among NCAA Division I teams.
Tulane had an early 15-7 lead before the Pirates surged to a 38-33 advantage at the half.
From a tie at 41, ECU took control with a 14-0 run that included a dunk among three hoops by Bobby Pettiford Jr.
Cam Hayes had 16 points for the Pirates and Pettiford scored 12.
ECU (14-12) made 31 of 60 field goal attempts (51.7 percent), including 11 of 22 on 3-pointers, 50 percent.
Johnson had nine rebounds as the Pirates led, 31-22, on the boards. Jaden Walker had eight of ECU’s 25 assists and Pettiford provided seven.
Ezra Ausar had five points in seven minutes and Valentino Pineto scored four in four minutes.
Jaylen Forbes led Tulane with 21 points.
The Pirates play next at Rice on Saturday at 2 p.m. (ESPNU).
The Owls (9-16, 3-9 AAC) play Wednesday night at Alabama-Birmingham.
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