Little Rock inches past ECU

Staff Report
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LAS VEGAS — Arkansas-Little Rock found enough offense in the second half to top East Carolina 54-46 in a Las Vegas Invitational defensive battle at Orleans Arena on Thursday.

The Pirates led 23-15 at the half. An 8-0 run put the Trojans ahead 37-29.

B.J. Tyson had 12 points and eight rebounds for ECU (2-3), which was beset by 22 turnovers.

Little Rock (4-0) committed just six turnovers and got a game-high 13 points from Marcus Johnson Jr. Josh Hagins added 11 points for the Trojans.

"A frustrating day for us," said Pirates coach Jeff Lebo. "Defensively, we played well enough to win this basketball game if we were just halfway decent offensively."

ECU made just four of 16 field goal attempts in the final 20 minutes, 25 percent.

Little Rock was three for 25 in the first half (12 percent) and 12 for 32 (37.5 percent) in the second half.

Michel Nzege had seven rebounds as the Pirates held a 44-31 rebounding advantage. Lance Tejada had six points for ECU. Mike Zangari and Prince Williams scored five points each.

Williams had a team-high four assists.

ECU wraps up its Las Vegas outing with a contest against Stetson at 5 p.m. today. The Hatters advanced to the matchup by defeating Bethune-Cookman 83-70 Thursday night.

PAGE UPDATED 11/27/15 01:58 AM.

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