GREENVILLE — Previously this season, the East Carolina Pirates have hung around with a few elite American Athletic Conference teams, but hadn’t been able to close the deal. The narrative changed at Minges Coliseum Sunday as ECU took down perennial NCAA tournament-participant Cincinnati with a surprising 50-46 victory.

ECU (9-12, 2-6) endured close losses down the stretch to conference contenders Tulsa and Memphis, but the Pirates were finally able to get over the hump and beat a big time team in Cincinnati (15-6, 6-3 AAC) on Sunday — their first ever win over the Bearcats.

“It was a great win for our kids. They’ve been resilient all year long,” said head coach Jeff Lebo after the game. “They found a way. There’s nothing harder as a coach than keeping your team together when they’ve lost, but they kept it together out there. I’m happy for our seniors.”

ECU isn’t known for winning AAC games, but the Pirates are known for sinking threes (first in AAC). Yet, the Pirates shot just 4-for-19 from behind the arc and still won the game on the other end.

Senior Antonio Robinson scored zero points and played arguably his best game as a Pirate. The Winston-Salem native was all over the place on defense, closing passing lanes with quick hands on his way to five steals.

“[Robinson] was terrific,” said Lebo. “He didn’t score a point, but I had to have him in (the game). He got deflections with five steals. In that zone, he is terrific.”

It was easily the most complete defensive performance of the year for the Pirates as a team; Cincinnati shot just 35 percent in the second half. And while the Bearcats relentlessly employed their full-court pressure for virtually the whole game, it was the Pirates who won the turnover battle, 13-7, largely due to Robinson and freshman B.J. Tyson.

Tyson beat Bearcats to spots all game despite coming up with just one steal, however his work on the offensive end was irreplaceable. The Wadesboro native was impressive for the Pirates early in the season, but over the course of the previous three games, he only put up seven total points.

Tyson put all the talk of an inevitable freshman skid to rest Sunday with his 18-point, five-rebound and two-assist performance. The freshman went 8-for-14 from the field to lead all scorers for both teams and he was the only Pirate to finish in double digits.

“I came in to today with the mentality to get better,” said Tyson. “I worked hard at practice and got shots up because I knew I hadn’t had a good game the past couple games, so I needed to work harder. It paid off today.”

Cincinnati led going into halftime, 23-18, and ECU trailed virtually the whole game, but was able to hang around by means of an effective matchup zone. The Bearcats were never able to pull away, as their largest lead was nine points with 8:15 left in the second half.

The Pirates dealt the final blow.

Trailing 46-39 with 3:23 remaining in regulation, ECU turned up the intensity level on defense, and it resulted in a decisive 11-0 run to end the game. Robinson came away with two steals in the closing minutes that turned into ECU layups — one by junior Terry Whisnant with 1:47 left that tied it up and the other by B.J. Tyson on the following possession that gave ECU the lead with 1:02 left.

The apathy towards college basketball that comes with Super Bowl Sunday didn’t touch Minges Coliseum, as the final two minutes were arguably the loudest in the past two seasons.

“I love Minges,” said Tyson after the game. “I love getting the crowd excited and I feed off that energy.”

Two clutch free throw makes by junior Caleb White iced the game with nine seconds left and the Pirates walked away with their most impressive win.

The story of the season so far had been incomplete games as far as focus and consistency but ECU was able to put it all together Sunday.

“We came out today and played two good halves,” said Whisnant. “It goes to show we can play with anybody in this conference.”

The Pirates are “rewarded” for the upset win with a road trip to take on the defending national champion Connecticut Huskies (11-8, 4-3 AAC) on Wednesday at 7 p.m.