ORLANDO – The East Carolina men’s basketball team fell in its final game of the regular season to UCF 84-58 on Sunday afternoon at Addition Financial Arena.
 
Ezra Ausar led the Pirates (15-16, 6-12 AAC) with 14 points and five rebounds. Brandon Johnson added 12 points and six rebounds and Jaden Walker provided 11 points and six boards.
 
Taylor Hendricks led the Knights (17-13, 8-10 AAC) with a double-double of 25 points and 10 rebounds.
 
Both ball clubs would trade baskets in game’s first four minutes with UCF ahead 10-7 at the 15:43 mark. UCF would come out of the media timeout on a 16-2 run forcing a quick ECU timeout. The Pirates would go on a quick 5-0 run but UCF would quickly snuff out the Pirates’ attempt to get back in the game and UCF would head into the half up 15.
 
ECU would cut the deficit to 11 twice coming out of the locker room but UCF would make its next five field goals and outscore the Pirates 11-2 to extend its lead to 20. The Pirates would undergo a scoring drought of nearly five minutes, allowing the Knights to stay comfortably ahead for the remainder of the game to clinch the win.
 
Up Next
East Carolina will head to Fort Worth, Texas as the No. 9 seed to face No. 8 seed South Florida on Thursday, March 9 in the first round of the American Athletic Conference Championship at 12:30 p.m. ET on ESPN2.