Bonke puts up 12 as Charlotte defeats East Carolina 68-56

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CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Anton Bonke scored 12 points as Charlotte beat East Carolina 68-56 on Saturday.

Bonke added nine rebounds for the 49ers (14-13, 8-6 American Athletic Conference). Ben Bradford added 12 points while going 5 of 14 (1 for 5 from 3-point range) while they also had seven rebounds. Dezayne Mingo had 10 points.

Jordan Riley finished with 20 points and two steals for the Pirates (9-18, 4-10). East Carolina also got 16 points from Corey Caulker coming from off the bench. Giovanni Emejuru also had 10 points and 12 rebounds.

Charlotte took the lead for good with 19:12 left in the first half. The score was 36-25 at halftime, with Bradford racking up seven points. Charlotte pulled away with a 9-2 run in the second half to extend a two-point lead to nine points. They outscored East Carolina by one point in the final half, as Bonke led the way with a team-high 10 second-half points.

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.