GREENVILLE — The Pirates suffered arguably the worst beat down of the Jeff Lebo era last Sunday in Chapel Hill – a 108-64 loss at the hands of North Carolina. And on Saturday, early in the home matchup against James Madison, it looked as if the confidence hangover would get the best of the Pirates, but a gutty team performance at the end of the first half that carried through the final whistle led the Pirates (5-5) to a 70-58 win over a battle-tested Dukes (6-3) team.

The Pirates took a rare 24-13 rebounding advantage into halftime and finished with a 38-26 advantage for the game. Lebo’s teams have typically proved to be competitive over the last couple seasons if they are only slightly out-rebounded, so an ECU 12-rebound advantage is very likely to result in a win.

On Saturday, JMU jumped out to a 14-3 lead on the Pirates, who were having trouble finding openings in the JMU zone defense. After a media timeout with 11:04 remaining in the game, ECU looked like a different team. Led by junior swingman Terry Whisnant (10 points) and freshman B.J. Tyson (10 points), the Pirates closed out the half on a 22-14 run. The duo, which accounted for 80 percent of ECU’s first half points, started attacking the zone and getting the ball up early in the shot-clock and set the tone for the rest of the game. ECU narrowed the JMU halftime lead to 28-25.

“Early in the game, I thought our confidence was shaken,” said ECU head coach Jeff Lebo. “We come off a loss to Florida Atlantic and get hammered at North Carolina. Practices were great; we had energy in shoot-around, the attitudes were great but we just did not look good. We looked shaken early. But give our guys credit. They came from behind, rallied and stuck with each other and beat a team who’s only losses were to Ohio State and Virginia. I’m proud of [my team] for battling.”

ECU was dangerously close to letting the game get out of hand early, committing nine turnovers in the first seven minutes of action, but JMU let the Pirates stick around by failing to convert the ECU mistakes into points. ECU turned the ball over 14 times in the first half compared to JMU’s seven giveaways, but the Pirates actually went into the locker room leading the points-off-turnovers category, 11-8.

The second half brought more Terry Whisnant effectiveness as his 14 points brought his game-total to 24 (four 3-pointers), a career-high for the former Florida State Seminole. Whisnant’s inconsistencies through ECU’s first nine games have played a big role in the Pirates’ early-season struggles but Saturday may have been a coming-out party of sorts.

“We need consistency from Terry,” said Lebo. “I thought he did a lot of good things today. He shot it much better and rebounded a little for us (seven boards), and he made timely shots which is important. I’m on him constantly to show more fight. He can be so good. He’s never been in a situation in college where he’s relied upon to be consistent and be good every night. He needs to do that for us to have a chance.”

The middle of the second half was largely back and forth with JMU taking a 51-49 lead with 7:13 left, but the Pirates found ways to score outside of Whisnant and Tyson which was ultimately the difference in them taking the 70-58 win.

Sophomore Caleb White delivered 16 second half points (2-for-2 from beyond the arc) after scoring zero points in the first half – a common theme for the Buckingham, Va. native this season.

“It’s not really a good thing but I have a tendency in the first half to kind of sit back and get the flow of the game and in the second half, I can pick and choose my spots; I just kind of go for it then,” said White after the game. “In the first half, we have a lot of other players that can step in and score in my absence when I’m not scoring. In the second half I guess I just take the initiative a little more.”

Following the bounce-back win, the Pirates take a week off before traveling to UNC-Wilmington for an annual battle with the Seahawks next Saturday. It will be the fifth time in seven games that ECU plays away from home at Minges Coliseum.