Brandon Johnson scored a career-high 24 points and grabbed seven rebounds as East Carolina rallied from a 16-point first half deficit to defeat Mercer 77-75 on Tuesday night at Williams Arena in Minges Coliseum.

The win marked the first career victory for first-year head coach Michael Schwartz and extended the Pirates' win streak in season opening games to 23.
 
Javon Small added a career-high 23 points on 8-of-14 shooting and 3-of-7 from behind the arc and RJ Felton chipped in 11 points and four rebounds for ECU (1-0).
 
Jalyn McCreary scored 18 points and added five rebounds to lead Mercer (0-1). Shawn Walker Jr. and Luis Hurtado added 12 and 10 points respectively.
 
Both teams traded baskets in the opening minutes of the first half before Mercer took a 10-6 lead at the first media timeout. The Bears extended their lead to the largest of the game at 37-21 with 2:42 left in first half but the Pirates gained momentum converting two turnovers into points to go into the locker room down 39-30.
 
The Pirates took that momentum into the second half, closing the gap to 55-54 before taking the lead for good on an and-one from Javon Small at the 8:08 mark. Quentin Diboundje hit two clutch free throws for his only points of the game and Ezra Ausar grabbed the game-clinching rebound to secure the win.
 
In the second half, ECU shot 60 percent from the floor and 55 percent from behind the arc to outscore Mercer 47-36 in route to the two-point victory. 
 
Despite being outscored in the paint 38-32 and giving up 16 second chance points, the Pirates outrebounded the Bears on the glass 37-33 and knocked down four more three-pointers to pull out the win.
 
Up Next
The Pirates return to Minges Coliseum to face Presbyterian on Saturday, Nov. 12 at 4 p.m. The game will be streamed on ESPN+.