Pirates pull away late for 58-50 win at UCF

East Carolina hands Knights first home loss

Facing the difficult challenge of playing its third game in five days, East Carolina responded with a 74-62 road victory against UCF on Wednesday night.

The Pirates (10-8, 2-2), who were unable to hang on to a 12-point second half lead against UAB on Monday night at home, handed the Knights their first home loss of the season.

ECU took a 3-2 lead on an Erin Straughn three just 44 seconds into the game and never looked back. The Florida native knocked down two more trifectas in the next two minutes to propel his team to a 9-3 advantage.

A three-pointer by Brock Young, the Pirates' sixth in six attempts, put East Carolina up 25-14 with just over 11 minutes remaining in the opening half.

UCF (14-3, 1-3) pulled to within four at the 6:53 mark when Isaiah Sykes' lay-up made it 29-25.

The Pirates countered with a 12-1 spurt that pushed their lead to 15 at 41-26 with 2:26 to play, but A.J. Rompza and Isaac Sosa fueled a 10-0 Knight run to close the half that made it 41-36 at the break.

UCF got within three when Dwight McCombs lay-up made it 44-41 with nearly 19 minutes to go. However, the Pirates bounced back with an 18-4 run and another Straughn three-pointer made it 62-45 with 10:52 left.

East Carolina mustered just a free throw over the next seven-plus minutes, but the Knights were not able to get closer than seven the rest of the way.

The Pirates shot a scorching 59 percent from three-point range, as they converted ten of their 17 attempts in the contest.

They did struggle at the charity stripe, where they were just 18-of-30. However, those struggles paled in comparison to UCF's, as they were a dismal 11-of-25 at the free throw line.

Jontae Sherrod was a rebound shy of a double double. The senior finished with 21 points and nine rebounds. 11 of those points came at the charity stripe.

Morrow, Straughn, and Young also scored in double figures for the Pirates.

Isaac Sosa came off the bench to hit four three-pointers and tally 16 points to lead UCF.

East Carolina will continue its road trip on Saturday when it visits Huntington, WV to take on Marshall.