GREENVILLE, N.C. – Beginning the team's business trip, a three-game road swing that sees USC Upstate men's basketball away from home for eight days, the Spartans took care of business Wednesday night inside Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum as Upstate showed its tenacity and grit in an 83-81 victory over East Carolina. The victory marks the program's first Power-Six victory—against an ACC, Big 10, Big 12, Pac-12, SEC, or American foe—in nine seasons, last doing so with a win at Mississippi State on Dec. 20, 2014.
 
Five Spartans finished the night in double-figures for the second straight game as two players put forth career-best scoring efforts. Tying his career-high, redshirt junior guard Trae Broadnax poured in 20 points behind a 64.3 percent (9-of-14) shooting performance while sophomore guard Justin Bailey added 19 points, including 16 in the game's first half. Graduate student guard Nick Alves (12), graduate student guard Miguel Ayesa (14), and redshirt senior forward Ahmir Langlais (13) joined Bailey and Broadnax in double figures.
 
Defensively, the Spartans withstood a pair of Pirates going for 20-plus points as guard RJ Felton and forward Ezra Ausar scored 33 and 24 points, respectively, for East Carolina. Doing so, Upstate forced 14 turnovers in the game, giving the group 14 or more forced turnovers in each of the team's four games this season.
 
Game Information
Score: USC Upstate 83; East Carolina 81
Records: USC Upstate (2-2; 0-0 Big South); East Carolina (2-1; 0-0 American)
Location: Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum | Greenville, N.C.
 
How It Happened
First Half

• Controlling the opening tap for the first time this season, Upstate wasted little time in building an early lead, taking advantage of driving lanes to score three early buckets. Three different Spartans took their turn knifing to the basket as Nick Alves, Trae Broadnax, and Justin Bailey tallied early makes. Following his early layup, Bailey scored the Spartans' next nine points, helping build a five-point cushion.
• Continuing to grow their advantage, the Spartans used a pair of three balls to push the lead toward double digits as Miguel Ayesa and Jalen Breazeale connected from deep. Upstate added a pair of free throws from Alves in the stretch, but East Carolina kept the scoring at a back-and-forth pace to hold its deficit at five.
• Growing the team's lead to double figures for the first time, Upstate fashioned its longest scoring of the game, rattling off eight straight points to build a 13-point advantage. Ayesa began the run, knocking down his second three before Ahmir Langlais converted the traditional three-point play and Broadnax hit another layup to close the run.
• Seeing the Spartans' lead fluctuate between nine and 13 points over the final 10 minutes of the first half, East Carolina fought back coming out of the under-four media timeout. The Pirates outscored Upstate 10-2 over the half's final four minutes, cutting Upstate's advantage to three points heading into the locker room.

 
Second Half

• Carrying the momentum of its 10-2 run to close the first half, East Carolina scored the first five points of the second half to take the lead for the first time in the game. Upstate would subsequently tie the game up, forcing the first of five non-scoreless ties in the contest.
• Upstate kept within striking distance following the tie, cutting the Pirate lead to a single point or single possession on multiple occasions over the game's next seven minutes, heading into the under-12 media timeout. The Spartans forced a second tie as Bailey knocked down a transition three, tying the game at 58 apiece with 11:27 to play.
• East Carolina continued building upon its second-half advantage, growing it as large as seven points with 9:03 to play in the half. Upstate, however, answered with its largest scoring run of the second half—a seven-point spurt—to tie the game at 69 all with 7:03 to play with the game being deadlocked at 71 and 73 over the game's next few minutes also.
• With the Pirates taking a one-point advantage as they split a pair of free throws, Upstate regained the lead for the final time with a short four-point scoring stretch. An up-and-under, reverse layup by Broadnax started the stretch before Alves stepped to the charity stripe and buried a pair of clutch free throws. Another pair of free throws, this time from Ayesa, proved crucial with nine seconds to play as the free throws proved the final margin as Upstate outlasted two East Carolina attempts at the buzzer.

 
Notable

• With Upstate's victory over East Carolina, the program captured its first victory over a Power-Six opponent (ACC, Big 10, Big 12, Pac-12, SEC, or American) since the 2014-15 season. That season the Spartans knocked off two such foes, most recently against Mississippi State on Dec. 20, 2014.
• Seeing five players score in double-figures versus East Carolina, Upstate has seen five Spartans scoring 10 or more points in consecutive games for the first time since the beginning of the 2021-22 season. In that span, the Spartans have 10 games, including tonight's, with five or more double-figure scorers with none of the previous eight coming in successive contests.
• Hitting nine threes against the Pirates, the Spartans improved their streak of consecutive games with at least one made three-pointer to 876 straight games dating back to the 1994-95 season. The streak includes each of the program's 509 games played at the NCAA Division I level (2007-pres.).

 
Up Next for the Spartans
Continuing the team's road trip, the Spartans compete in the first half of the team's MTE event, the Midwest Classic, travelling to Minnesota to square off with the Golden Gophers. The game features a 2 p.m. ET tip-off Saturday with the game airing on Peacock.
 
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