Middle Tennessee cruises past East Carolina 84-67

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 8:02 p.m. ET

foxsports

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (AP) -- Shawn Jones scored 22 points and gathered 11 rebounds as Middle Tennessee dumped East Carolina 84-67 on Thursday night.

Middle Tennessee (14-7, 4-2 Conference USA) shot 52 percent and hit 20 of 29 free throws. Tweety Knight had 14 points and Kerry Hammonds II added 13 points and six assists.

The Blue Raiders had this one in their pocket from the start. Hammonds had eight points early and a 13-0 run propelled MTSU to a 27-10 lead with 7:44 left in the first. When Jaqawn Raymond buried a trey at the buzzer, Middle Tennessee took a 41-22 lead to the break.

East Carolina chipped the lead down to 13 with 6:44 left on Akeem Richmond's 3-pointer, but MTSU scored the next seven points to push the lead back to 20 and they cruised to the win.

Caleb White led East Carolina (11-10, 0-6) with 18 points.