East Carolina 64, Memphis 53: B.J. Tyson scored 20 of his 23 points in the second half as the host Pirates pulled away from the shorthanded Tigers down the stretch.

Caleb White scored nine of his 11 points in the first half for East Carolina (11-13, 4-7 American), which has won two in a row and improved to 10-3 at home this season. Antonio Robinson added six points, six rebounds, six assists and three steals for the Pirates, who forced 19 turnovers.

Shaq Goodwin finished with 13 points, 12 rebounds and three blocks for Memphis, which was without leading scorer Austin Nichols, who suffered a sprained ankle in Saturday’s loss to Temple and will reportedly miss up to two weeks. Nick King added 13 points and eight rebounds off the bench for the Tigers (14-10, 6-5).

Paris Roberts-Campbell scored inside with 5:27 left to give the Pirates a 50-49 lead and they never trailed again, creeping ahead by six with 2:47 left on the clock to match their biggest lead of the game. Avery Woodson sank a 3-pointer to cut the deficit in half with two minutes remaining, but those would be the final points as East Carolina ended with an 8-0 run.

East Carolina used a 12-0 run to take its first lead of the game and stretch it to 33-29 before another 8-0 burst gave the Pirates their biggest lead at 41-36 with 10:47 left in the game. The lead would change hands four more times before Roberts-Campbell gave the Pirates the lead for good.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Nichols was not in the starting lineup for the first time since March 23, 2013. … East Carolina has its first two-game winning streak in conference play since winning three in a row last February as a member of Conference USA. … East Carolina G Terry Whisnant, who came in averaging a team-high 13.1 points, finished with seven points and is averaging seven in the last four games.