East Carolina 99, North Carolina Wesleyan 81: Freshman B.J. Tyson scored 22 points while transfer Michel Nzege scored 18 points and collected 12 rebounds as the Pirates beat the Division III-member Battling Bishops in the season and Gulf Coast Showcase opener for both teams.

Terry Whisnant, Marshall Guilmette and Caleb White added 14 points apiece for East Carolina (1-0), which beat North Carolina Wesleyan (0-1) for the sixth straight time. The Pirates, who have won 15 straight season openers, took advantage of 31 fouls by the Bishops to hit 36-of-46 free-throw attempts.

Eric Dortch-Jones scored a game-high 25 points for North Carolina Wesleyan, which suffered its second straight season-opening setback to the Pirates. Adrian Moore had 13 points off the bench as the other player to score in double figures for the Bishops.

East Carolina led 48-27 at the half and stretched its lead to 62-37 with 13 ½ minutes to play before North Carolina Wesleyan used a 23-8 run to pull within 70-60 with just a little more than 8:31 remaining. The Pirates, though, reeled off 10 straight points as part of a 29-9 spree over the ensuing 5 ½ minutes to put the contest out of reach.

Whisnant’s 3-pointer just over three minutes in capped an 11-2 game-opening run for East Carolina. North Carolina Wesleyan was able to pull within six points four minutes later, but the Pirates closed out the half with a 31-16 surge to take the 21-point advantage into intermission.

GAME NOTEBOOK: East Carolina played without a pair of scheduled starters in G Paris Roberts-Campbell (knee) and F Michael Zangari (face bone fracture) as they recover from preseason injuries. … The Pirates, who led Conference USA in 3-point attempts in each of the last two seasons, went 3-of-16 from beyond the arc. … East Carolina has won 22 straight and 50 of its last 51 games against non-Division I opponents.