A better beginning for East Carolina’s men’s basketball team had little effect on the ending of its game against Southern Miss.

The Golden Eagles handed ECU its sixth consecutive loss Wednesday night by dominating the boards and bench scoring en route to knocking off the Pirates, 72-60, in Minges Coliseum.

In nearly all of its previous five Conference USA defeats, East Carolina (9-10, 0-6 C-USA) fell behind by double digits early in the game and was forced to play catchup. Against Southern Miss (18-3, 5-1), the Pirates jumped out to a 13-7 lead, but that was as good as it got for the home team as the Eagles closed the first half with a 31-10 run, built a 38-23 halftime lead and never looked back.

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