GREENVILLE — The East Carolina men’s basketball team held Cincinnati to 55 points Sunday afternoon, tied for a season-low, but another poor offensive output held back the Pirates from knocking off the No. 22 Bearcats, 55-46.

It was a freshman show for ECU (9-10, 1-5 American Athletic Conference) as Elijah Hughes found his stroke in the first half behind the 3-point line and Jeremy Sheppard showed confidence and swagger while handling the basketball. Hughes shot 3-of-7 from behind the arc and 5-of-10 overall in a 16-point first half. Sheppard was 2-of-7 from the field with a steal.

“The last like three or four days I’ve been really working hard with coach (Mike) Netti so my confidence was just really high today,” Hughes said after his 18-point outing. “When I felt it going early I just kept it going.”

The duo’s 23-point first half outing had ECU within eight headed into the locker room. The Pirates certainly were playing well enough defensively to be in a position to win. The typically high-powered Cincinnati (15-2, 5-0 AAC) offense was shooting at just a 35.5-percent clip in the first half. ECU then held the Bearcats to a 29.6 shooting percentage in the second half, though the Pirates’ offense continued to suffer.

The Pirates held the talented duo of Gary Clark and Troy Caupain largely in check as they each scored just eight points, but Kyle Washington’s fight on the inside against Andre Washington proved to be a straw that broke ECU’s back in the loss. Kyle Washington went for a double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds.

“Defensively, wow,” ECU head coach Jeff Lebo said after his final game before a hip surgery that will sideline him indefinitely. “I mean, 32 percent (from the field), 16 percent from three, you look at those numbers and they’re winning numbers.”

ECU found a few lanes to drive through in the second half after finding most of its offense from the free throw line and behind the 3-point arc in the first half. Kentrell Barkley scored in the paint once and went to the free throw line four times in the half to finish with nine points. The sophomore came up one point shy of a double-double as he hauled in 10 rebounds.

Most efforts to get to the rim by ECU ended with stronger defensive effort by the Bearcats, who finished with nine team blocks, including five from Nysier Brooks.

With 8:02 left in regulation, Sheppard drove the right side of the lane and headed to the basket to take a layup, hoping to cut the lead to seven. Brooks turned and swatted the ball hard and out of bounds. On the ensuing inbound, ECU looked to get a quick shot from Caleb White (0 points on 0-of-7 shooting) but Brooks came up big again, swatting the ball to half court where Jacob Evans picked up the ball and went in for a clean layup and converted on an and-1 free throw after a Barkley foul.

The Pirates cut the lead to single digits with less than four minutes left but it was too little too late for an already sluggish ECU offense.

The Pirates played their first game without B.J. Tyson, who is out for an indefinite period of time with a leg injury. The offense didn’t seem to majorly falter in the scope of what ECU has done at that end this season. Sheppard said it’s still the same game and the team still has the same goals, even without arguably its best player.

“I feel like everything still works the same, we’re still all sharing the ball,” Sheppard said. “We’re still trying to get open shots and we’ll still throw it to the big men when they’re open.”

As for Lebo, he said it was odd talking to his team after the and saying a temporary “goodbye” before his hip surgery, but he said he knows the team is in good hands with assistant Michael Perry taking over.

“I’ve never had to separate for a period of time from my group, so that’s tough,” Lebo said. “I’ve got a good group of coaches, they’re experienced and I’ve got a good group of kids. I’ve missed practices, gone on the road recruiting, so they’ve done things a day or two without me occasionally but not this long extended period of time. But my coaches have been with me for a while so I don’t think anything will really change.”

ECU will get the week off before traveling to Connecticut for a Sunday night game against the Huskies in its first game without Lebo.