MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) -- Will Barton scored 25 points and grabbed eight rebounds, and Joe Jackson added 13 points and seven assists as Memphis pulled away in the second half to defeat East Carolina 70-47 on Wednesday night.
The Tigers (20-8, 10-3 Conference USA) outscored East Carolina 33-15 after halftime, building their lead to as many as 25 points. The 15 second-half points were a season low in a half for the Pirates (12-14, 3-10), who lost their fourth straight.
Antonio Barton added 11 points for Memphis, hitting 3 of his 4 shots from the field.
Miguel Paul led the Pirates with 20 points, 17 of them in the first half. Shamarr Bowden finished with 13 points.
East Carolina not only shot 28.6 percent for the game (14 of 49), but was hampered by a season-high 26 turnovers, eight of them by Paul.
Memphis shot 46.4 percent (26 of 56) from the field, but only 38.7 percent (12 of 31) after the break. Still, that was much better than East Carolina, which shot 22.2 percent (6 of 27) in the second half. Half of the Pirates' 14 field goals overall came from outside the arc (7 of 18, 38.9 percent).
The Tigers scored 28 points off turnovers and outscored East Carolina in the paint 48-12.
Memphis shot 56 percent (14 of 25) and led 37-32 after a first half marred by poor ballhandling by both teams. The Tigers committed 13 turnovers and East Carolina 14 in the half.
Barton had 17 points and Jackson 11 at the break.
Paul led the Pirates with 17 points, hitting all four of his shots, as East Carolina connected on five of its first seven from outside the arc.
But Paul, the Pirates' leading scorer with a 15.7 average, missed five of his six shots in the second half.
Memphis was ahead most of the first half, its lead reaching eight points on several occasions. But East Carolina used its long-range shooting to erase the advantage.
The Tigers responded with 10 unanswered points for their halftime lead.
Memphis opened the second half with a 10-2 run to take the lead to double digits, then the Tigers settled into a bit of a rhythm.
Memphis continued to build its advantage the rest of the way, the 25-point lead coming with 1:45 to play.
