DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – RJ Felton and C.J. Walker each scored a game-high 20 points but East Carolina couldn’t overcome a cold-shooting second half as the Pirates suffered their first loss of the year, falling to Jacksonville State 86-78 in the opening round of the Boardwalk Battle on Thursday afternoon.
Yann Farell added 12 points on four made threes for the Pirates (4-1).
Jao Ituka led Jacksonville State (4-1) with 18 points.
HE CAN DO IT ALL 🤯@felton_j1 pic.twitter.com/xkHrSyAjcu
— East Carolina Men’s Basketball (@ecubasketball) November 21, 2024
Jacksonville State scored the game’s first six points before Walker finally broke the seal on the basket for the Pirates with a jumper at the 17-minute mark. ECU would hit five of their next six shots including making three-pointers on three straight possessions to flip an 8-2 deficit to a 16-14 lead.
The Pirates would go up 28-23 after a Riley layup for their largest lead of the first half but the Gamecocks would battle back to take a 36-32 lead with 2:34 remaining in the half. ECU would recapture the lead right before the end of the half on a driving layup from Felton to make the score 39-37.
I wouldn’t leave him open like that 🫣 pic.twitter.com/8zxW53CD8A
— East Carolina Men’s Basketball (@ecubasketball) November 21, 2024
Jacksonville State would score the first four points of the second half to regain the lead and the teams would go back and forth over the next eight minutes of the game with ECU holding a 59-54 advantage at the 10:29 mark.
An 18-6 Gamecock spurt would be the deciding factor as the Pirates went cold from the floor down the stretch of the second half, going 5-for-16, and Jacksonville State take the eight-point victory to move to the winner’s bracket.
TAKEOFF JAY!🚀 #1ECU pic.twitter.com/5zKwxnl9HQ
— East Carolina Men’s Basketball (@ecubasketball) November 21, 2024
Game Notes
- RJ Felton extended his double-figure scoring game streak to 30 games.
- Felton moved to eighth all-time in program history in made threes with 163 for his career.
- Felton scored 20 or more points in back-to-back contests for the fifth time in his career.
- Thursday’s contest was the first time this season that the Pirates have lost the battle on the glass (37-30) and at the free throw line, making only 13 shots at the line compared to Jacksonville State’s 23.
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