South Florida beats E Carolina for first conference win (Feb 11, 2017)

By AP
Published

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) Geno Thorpe scored 22 points with three 3-pointers and made eight assists and South Florida beat East Carolina 64-57 on Saturday night to end a 12-game losing streak and win its first American Conference game of the season.

Thorpe's 3-pointer gave the Bulls a 48-34 lead with 12:17 left to play. The Pirates closed to 50-46 on a 12-2 run capped by Elijah Hughes' corner 3-pointer, but South Florida pulled ahead 58-49 on Thorpe's layup.

The Pirates got to 60-55 on Jeremy Sheppard's 3 with 38 seconds left, but Michael Bibby made two from the line to make it 64-55 South Florida. Kentrell Barkley capped the Pirates' scoring with a layup with 11 seconds left.

Tulio Da Silva scored 13 points off the bench for South Florida (7-17, 1-12), which shot 42.6 percent from the floor and held the Pirates to 35.8 percent.

Jeremy Sheppard scored 17 and Barkley scored 12 with 12 rebounds for the Pirates (11-14, 3-9), who are 0-9 in true road games this season.