WRAL Sports Fan

Final Score: Memphis 75, East Carolina 68

Greenville, NC (Sports Network) - Joe Jackson scored 18 of his career-high 26 points in the second half to push the Memphis Tigers to a 75-68 victory over the East Carolina Pirates in a Conference USA bout at Minges Coliseum.

Jackson had a very memorable night as he surpassed the 1,000-point plateau for his career in the contest and also dished out six assists to guide Memphis (17-3, 6-0 C-USA) to its 11th win in a row. Geron Johnson tallied 13 points, seven rebounds, and five assists and Chris Crawford netted 11 points, while Shaq Goodwin grabbed 10 boards and rejected three shots.

Ty Armstrong paced ECU (12-8, 3-4) with 18 points and nine boards. Miguel Paul contributed 15 points, six assists, and two steals while Maurice Kemp and Akeem Richmond scored 13 and 12 points, respectively.

Both sides were cold in the opening stanza. Although the Pirates connected on 35.3 percent of their field goal attempts in the opening period, Memphis took a narrow 28-27 edge into the intermission despite shooting 32.4 percent from the floor in the first half.

The Tigers took control after the break by hitting 4-of-7 from beyond the arc while converting 15-of-19 at the charity stripe. ECU managed to hang around by forcing 11 turnovers in the second half, but it was not able to produce enough on the offensive end.

Memphis enjoyed a 49-33 edge in the rebounding battle as it kept its perfect Conference USA record intact.