Pirates Sail Past Tulane, 81-67

Sunday, February 18

Greenville, N.C.

2:00 p.m.

East Carolina University

14-12,7-6AAC

Tulane

13-12,4-9AAC

Tulane

East Carolina

February 18, 2024 | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

GREENVILLE, N.C. – RJ Felton scored 21 points and grabbed six rebounds as East Carolina defeated Tulane 81-67 on Sunday afternoon inside Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum.

Brandon Johnson added 20 points and nine boards for the Pirates (14-12, 7-6 AAC) who have earned their most wins in the American Athletic Conference since joining the league prior to the 2014-15 with their seventh league win and have won three straight AAC games for the first time as a program.

ECU also got strong play from its other guards as Cam Hayes tied his season-high in points with 14 on 4-of-6 shooting from downtown and Bobby Pettiford Jr. scored 12 points along with seven assists. Jaden Walker added eight assists and six rebounds.

Jaylen Forbes led Tulane (13-12, 4-9 AAC) with 21 points.

After scoring on the game's first possession, the Pirates found themselves trailing for the first eight minutes as Tulane went up by as much as eight points. The teams would trade leads four times over the next four minutes of the first half until ECU took the lead at 27-23 with 7:37 remaining. ECU would take a 38-33 lead going into the break, leading at the half for the third straight game.

Tulane would come out with a small flurry of offense to knot the game at 41 but ECU would go on a 14-0 run to go in front 55-41 and not allow the Green Wave to get any closer than nine the rest of the way.

Game Notes

RJ Felton became the 34th player in program history to reach 1,000 career points as a Pirate on his three-point shot at the 11:35 mark of the first half. Felton has also scored 10 or more points in 18 straight games.
The 25 assists for the Pirates were a season-high and the most for the team under Schwartz. It is also the third straight that the team has tallied 10 or more assists.
Tulane's 16 turnovers marked the seventh straight game that ECU has forced its opponent into 10 or more turnovers.
After not reaching 80 points in 17 straight games, the Pirates have scored 80 or more points in two of their last three games.

Up Next
East Carolina will travel to Houston to face Rice on Saturday, Feb. 24 at 2 p.m. ET on ESPNU.