FORT WORTH — A quarterfinal matchup with top-seeded South Florida in the American Athletic Conference tournament marked the end of the 2023-24 season for East Carolina on Friday at Dickies Arena.
The Bulls (24-6) got 17 points each from Cobe Knox and Selton Miguel in an 81-59 win over the Pirates (15-18).
Kasean Pryor and Chris Youngblood added 10 points apiece for the Bulls, who will face Alabama-Birmingham (21-11) in the semifinals on Saturday at 3 p.m. (ESPN2).
USF hit eight of 15 from beyond the arc (53.3 percent) in building a 44-30 lead at the half.
“We all saw why South Florida is the champion of this league,” said ECU coach Mike Schwartz. “They played really good basketball today. They were dynamic on offense. They shot the basketball very well. They made 14 threes at a high percentage (14 for 31, 45.2 percent).”
R.J. Felton led the Pirates with 16 points. Senior Brandon Johnson had 15 points and 10 rebounds. Ezra Ausar, who had 28 points Thursday in an 84-79 win over Tulsa, scored 14 on Friday and collected nine rebounds.
ECU won the board battle, 40-35, but had more turnovers, 13-9.
The last lead for the Pirates, 7-5, came with 17:20 left in the first half.
ECU lost six of its last seven games.
“There is nobody … that is happy with where we finished,” Schwartz said. “We’ve done some things that are positive that we’ll build on, but we will absolutely self-reflect and make the necessary adjustments to be even better next season.”
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