East Carolina is heading into Saturday’s Conference USA Championship Game off a 53-21 win against Texas-El Paso on Friday in Greensville.

Freshman Darryl Freeney (Nansemond River) had the best game of his Pirate career so far. Freeney caught a 32-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Pat Pinkney with 1:14 left in the first quarter, putting ECU up 13-0 at that point. Freeney had five catches for 106 yards for the game. The Pirate offense scored on nine of its 10 possessions against the Miners.

ECU (8-4, 6-2) plays at Tulsa (10-2, 7-1) in the conference title game on Saturday at noon. The game will be televised by ESPN2.

On the court

After an 0-4 start to the season, Chowan’s men’s basketball team won two contests last week.

On Wednesday at Virginia State, Mark Brown (Nansemond River) made a 15-foot baseline jumper with six seconds left to put Chowan up 75-73. The Hawks prevailed 76-73. Junior Jaleel Nelson (Lakeland) had 12 points for Chowan; Brown finished with seven.

On Sunday in Murfreesboro, N.C., the Hawks beat St. Andrew’s 78-61. The Hawks led 49-27 at the half. Nelson had 14 points and three assists. Brown added eight points and three rebounds.

Christopher Newport went 1-1 in its CNU Invitational men’s basketball tournament, winning the third-place game 87-83 against Otterbein on Saturday.

Junior Joshua Russell (Lakeland) played 24 minutes off the bench and scored 19 points. Russell made a three-pointer with 0:22 left to give the Captains an 85-83 lead. Russell went 2-for-2 at the foul line with three seconds left to put the game away. Russell was 5-for-7 from three-point range.

The Captains trailed 77-66 with 5:49 remaining. CNU is 2-2.

Winthrop dropped to 1-5 with a 63-60 loss against visiting East Carolina on Saturday in Rock Hill, S.C. Freshman Andre Jones (Nansemond River) scored nine points and got four rebounds in 23 minutes as a substitute for Winthrop.

The Eagles visited conference foe Virginia Military on Wednesday night.