DAYTONA BEACH — East Carolina held Stetson scoreless on four possessions in the last two minutes for a 71-64 victory in the Boardwalk Battle on Friday.

R. J. Felton had 21 points as the Pirates bounced back from an 86-78 loss to Jacksonville State on Thursday to improve to 5-1.

ECU concludes play in the 3-day event on Saturday at 1 p.m. in the fifth-place game against Illinois Chicago (4-2), a 96-83 winner over LaSalle on Friday.

“There’s no such thing as pretty,” said Pirates coach Mike Schwartz on the ECU radio network. “It’s about competing for 40 minutes, and I thought our defense was at its best the last four minutes, which is really important.”

The Pirates outrebounded the Hatters (1-5) by a 32-25 margin and had fewer turnovers, 12-16.

ECU was outshot from the field but made u for the disparity at the line.

The Pirates hit 20 of 55 from the floor (36.4 percent) and three of 14 from beyond the arc (21.4 percent). Stetson sank 20 of 44 from the field (Jordan  percent) and 10 of 25 on threes (40 percent).

ECU knocked down 28 of 33 free throws (84.8 percent) while the Hatters were 14 of 25 (56 percent).

Felton had a game-high eight rebounds.

Scoring for the Pirates included Jordan Riley with 14 points, Cam Hayes with 13 and C.J. Walker with 11.

Mehki Ellison had 15 points for Stetson and Abramo Canka added 14.