TULSA, Okla. – Jaden Walker scored a career-high 24 points as East Carolina earned a gritty road win over Tulsa 62-60 on Tuesday night at the Donald W. Reynolds Center.
 
RJ Felton added 14 points and nine rebounds for the Pirates (14-13, 5-9 AAC) who picked up their second conference road win of the season. Ezra Ausar, Brandon Johnson and David Kasanganay all provided huge plays in the second half to help the Pirates rally for the win.
 
Brandon Betson led Tulsa (5-22, 1-15 AAC) with 20 points.
 
Tulsa would score on the game’s opening possession but the Pirates would score the next seven points to go ahead 7-2 early in the first half. The Golden Hurricane would knot the game at 7-7 and both teams would struggle on offense, only making two shots combined over the next four minutes of action.
 
First-half foul trouble for the Pirates would allow Tulsa to jump ahead 30-22 but Felton would hit back-to-back threes to give ECU a spark on offense and the Pirates would hold Tulsa scoreless over the final 2:31 of the first half to only trail 32-25 at the break.
 
ECU would score the first five points of the second half to make it 32-31 but Tulsa would score on back-to-back plays to go back up by five with 15:13 to go. Both teams would go the next four minutes without a point until Tulsa converted a broken play into a dunk and the Pirates would follow up with a Felton three to make Tulsa’s lead 40-38 with 9:57 remaining. 
 
The Pirates would briefly recapture the lead after another Felton three and ECU would go on an 8-0 run and hold the Golden Hurricane scoreless for nearly four minutes to go into the final media timeout ahead 51-47. Tulsa would draw within two but Johnson would nail a huge three in the corner to push the Pirates to the win.
 
Up Next
East Carolina hosts top-ranked Houston inside Minges Coliseum on Saturday, Feb. 25 at 8 p.m. on ESPN2