FORT WORTH, Texas – No. 8 East Carolina defeated No. 9 Tulsa, 84-79, in the second round of the 2024 American Men’s Basketball Championship on Thursday, March 14 at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas.
With the win, the Pirates (15-17) advance to the quarterfinals to face No. 1 South Florida on Friday, March 15 at 1 p.m. ET/noon CT on ESPN2.
The Pirates had led by as many as 10 points in the second half, but the Golden Hurricane (16-15) came back and led with 3:23 remaining on a 3-pointer by Carlous Williams. With the game tied at 77, East Carolina’s RJ Felton hit a jumper in the lane with 34 seconds remaining to give the Pirates a two-point lead, one that ECU would never relinquish.
Ezra Ausar led East Carolina with 28 points and 10 rebounds. He was 10-for-12 from the field for 83.3 percent, a new single-game Championship record. The old record was 81.8 percent (9-for-11) set by UConn’s Niels Giffey in 2014.
American Freshman of the Year PJ Haggerty for Tulsa led all scorers with 29 points and broke the Championship single-game freshman assist record with nine, besting UConn’s Jalen Adams, who had eight against Temple in 2016.
2024 American Men’s Basketball Championship Schedule
Wednesday, March 13
Game 1 – No. 12 Wichita State 88, No. 13 Rice 81
Game 2 – No. 11 Temple 64, No. 14 UTSA 61
Thursday, March 14
Game 3 – No. 8 East Carolina, 84, No. 9 Tulsa 79
Game 4 – No. 12 Wichita State vs. No. 5 Memphis – 2:30 p.m. ET/1:30 p.m. CT | ESPNU
Game 5 – No. 10 Tulane vs. No. 7 North Texas – 7 p.m. ET/6 p.m. CT | ESPNU
Game 6 – No. 11 Temple vs. No. 6 SMU – 9 p.m. ET/8 p.m. CT | ESPNU
Friday, March 15
Game 7 – No. 8 East Carolina vs. No. 1 South Florida – 1 p.m. ET/Noon CT | ESPN2
Game 8 – Game 4 winner vs. No. 4 UAB – 3 p.m. ET/2 p.m. CT | ESPN2
Game 9 – Game 5 winner vs. No. 2 Florida Atlantic – 7 p.m. ET/6 p.m. CT | ESPNU
Game 10 – Game 6 winner vs. No. 3 Charlotte – 9 p.m. ET/8 p.m. CT | ESPNU
Saturday, March 16
Game 11 – Semifinal 1, Game 7 winner vs. Game 8 winner – 3 p.m. ET/2 p.m. CT | ESPN2
Game 12 – Semifinal 2, Game 9 winner vs. Game 10 winner – 5 p.m. ET/4 p.m. CT | ESPN2
Sunday, March 17
Game 13 – Championship, Game 11 winner vs. Game 12 winner – 3:15 p.m. ET/2:15 p.m. CT | ESPN
