East Carolina University
12-15,5-9AAC
USF
8-20,2-13AAC
White, Tyson Lead East Carolina Past USF, 73-60
February 21, 2015 | Men's Basketball
Game Report 
| Box Score | 
Game Highlights
From wire and staff reports
GREENVILLE, N.C. --- Caleb White and B.J. Tyson scored 19 points apiece to help East Carolina beat South Florida 73-60 on Saturday for its fourth straight win at home. The win also snapped a two-game skid by the Pirates and ended their five-game losing streak to USF.
White made a career-high five 3-pointers and Tyson was 11 of 14 from the free throw line. White moved above the century mark with a 101 career 3-poniters made and Tyson became the third freshman in school history to make more then 90 free throws (94) in his rookie campaign.
Marshall Guilmette had 13 points and Terry Whisnant added 10 for East Carolina (12-15, 5-9 American). The Pirates converted 28 of 36 free throws (77.8 percent) compared to USF's 12 makes.
"It was a big win for us," ECU Head Coach Jeff Lebo said. "I thought we did a lot of nice things, although we didn't get off to a great start. In the last 12 minutes of the first half we were able to score a lot of points off turnovers. Our defense was pretty active in the first half and we did a nice job of extending the lead in the second half."
After spotting USF (8-20, 2-13) the first seven points and falling behind 12-3, East Carolina went on a 15-2 spurt capped by consecutive 3-pointers from Guilmette and White to take its first lead of the game. The Pirates held USF without a field goal for nearly eight minutes as part of its game-changing run.
"We got off to a slow start so we knew we had to pick it up and once we get easy buckets and get more aggressive on defense, everyone picks up a little bit of confidence," White said.
East Carolina missed its firs five shots of the game, but finished the first half by making 11 of its final 20 attempts, scoring 20 points off 11 USF turnovers in the opening 20 minutes.
"We didn't panic," Lebo said. "We got some easy ones in transition that really helped us get back in the game. They fouled us on a couple of 3-point shots, which at least we got some points on when we weren't scoring. They're very good in the half court defensively. Luckily we gout out in transition and got some easy ones off their turnovers."
The Pirates stretched out their lead to 12 on a dunk by Guilmette before Troy Holston, Jr. made a jumper just before the half, cutting ECU's halftime advantage to 10, 35-25.
East Carolina opened the second half on an 11-0 run, with 3-pointers by White and Whisnant, and Marshall Guilmette's three-point play. Another White 3-pointer at the 9:32 mark gave ECU its largest lead of the game at 53-31.
USF, proving that there was no quit in its team, shaved 10 points off the lead and trailed by 12 with 5:07 to play.
White and Guilmette scored the game's next five points before Cory Allen, Jr.'s 3 made it a 14-point game with 3:17 remaining, setting the stage for a multitude of foul shots over the final three minutes.
East Carolina shot 19 free throws in the last 2:58 as USF committed 10 fouls during that span. The Pirates connected on 13 attempts over that stretch with Whisnant going 4 of 4 and Tyson 5 of 8.
Allen Jr. led USF with 28 points - 25 after halftime - and eight rebounds. Troy Holston Jr. added 13 points.
