NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Shane Carden's second touchdown pass of the game, with 4:29 remaining, gave East Carolina some breathing room in a tight 28-23 Conference USA victory over Tulane on Saturday.
The Pirates (7-4, 6-1), who moved into a first-place tie with Tulsa in the league's East Division, trailed the Green Wave (2-9, 2-5) in the second quarter and never led by more than 12 points.
That 28-16 margin came when Carden found Andrew Bodenheimer from 11 yards out to cap a 79-yard drive that consumed 4:41.
Tulane responded with a 31-yard scoring pass from Ryan Griffin to Wilson Van Hooser after a 73-yard drive, but East Carolina ran out the final 1:22.
Griffin completed 36 of 57 passes for 293 yards two touchdowns, with Ryan Grant making 10 of the receptions for 94 yards.
Cairo Santos kicked three field goals for the Green Wave and is 20-for-20 on the season.
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| Scoring Summary |
| TULANE | Xavier Rush 13 yd pass from Ryan Griffin (Cairo Santos kick) |
| ECU | Justin Hardy 7 yd pass from Shane Carden (Warren Harvey kick) |
| TULANE | Cairo Santos 23 yd FG |
| ECU | Shane Carden 5 yd run (Warren Harvey kick) |
| TULANE | Cairo Santos 43 yd FG |
| ECU | Reggie Bullock 5 yd run (Warren Harvey kick) |
| TULANE | Cairo Santos 26 yd FG |
| ECU | Andrew Bodenheimer 11 yd pass from Shane Carden (Warren Harvey kick) |
| TULANE | Wilson Van Hooser 31 yd pass from Ryan Griffin (Cairo Santos kick) |
| Team Stats | ||
| ECU | TULANE | |
| First Downs | 20 | 22 |
| Third Down Efficiency | 5-14 | 8-19 |
| Fourth Down Efficiency | 1-2 | 0-1 |
| Plays-Net Yards | 70-387 | 79-302 |
| Rushes-Yds | 37-172 | 22-9 |
| Passing Yds | 215 | 293 |
| Kick Return Yds | 105 | 52 |
| Punt Return Yds | 17 | 26 |
| Passes | 19-33-2 | 36-57-0 |
| Punts | 5-206 | 7-287 |
| Fumbles-Lost | 0-0 | 1-0 |
| Penalties-Yds | 7-77 | 5-36 |
| Time of Poss. | 27:49 | 32:11 |
| Individual Stats |
| RUSHING |
| ECU: Vintavious Cooper 15-87, Reggie Bullock 12-56, Shane Carden 7-36, Team 3--7 |
| TULANE: Dante Butler 2-18, Rob Kelley 8-11, Orleans Darkwa 4-10, Josh Rounds 3-8, Ryan Griffin 5--38 |
| PASSING |
| ECU: Shane Carden 19-33-215-2 |
| TULANE: Ryan Griffin 36-57-293-0 |
| RECEIVING |
| ECU: Justin Hardy 5-55, Danny Webster 3-36, Vintavious Cooper 3-29, Derrick Harris 2-18, Justin Jones 2-13, Jabril Solomon 1-29, Reggie Bullock 1-22, Andrew Bodenheimer 1-11, Michael Dobson 1-2 |
| TULANE: Ryan Grant 10-94, Josh Rounds 9-43, Xavier Rush 5-50, Rob Kelley 4-22, Wilson Van Hooser 3-51, Dante Butler 3-21, Marc Edwards 2-12 |
| Standings | |||
| Team | Standings | Conference | Overall |
| East Carolina | 1st Conference USA East | 7-1 | 8-5 |
| Tulane | 5th Conference USA West | 2-6 | 2-10 |
