Greenville, N.C. -- A slam dunk and front-end free throw by junior forward Corey Rouse helped East Carolina extend its home court winning streak against non-conference opponents to 10, beating Toledo, 73-71, inside Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum Wednesday night.

Rouse poured in a game-high and career-high 21 points, shooting 9-of-11 from the field, and grabbing nine rebounds. Senior Moussa Badiane recorded his second consecutive double-double with 15 points and a season-high 11 rebounds. Sophomore guard Mike Cook reached double figures scoring for the sixth straight game this season with 14 points.

East Carolina (4-2) led for the first 38:28 before the Rockets fought back and seized their first lead with 1:32 to play on a reverse layup by Florentino Valencia, 69-68. The final 1:30 then turned into a seesaw battle.

Badiane then made a pair of free throws with 1:02 remaining. Valencia responded with another layup the next trip down the court with 0:37.4 seconds left. Following an East Carolina timeout, Rouse put the Pirates ahead for good with a baseline dunk with 0:25. 3 seconds to play, giving the Pirates a 72-71 lead. Rouse the rebounded a missed three by Allen Pinson and made the front-end of a one-and-one free throw opportunity with 0:1.6 seconds. The Rockets' rebounded Rouse's second free throw attempt, but their final desperation shot fell short.

The Pirates blistered the nets early and often in the first half, jumping out to a 21-6 lead less than eight minutes into the half and led by as many as 17 during the period. The Pirates connected on 56 percent of its shots in the first half (14-25) and scored 16 points off nine Toledo turnovers prior to intermission. Toledo (0-3) trimmed the lead to 13 at the break as Justin Ingram nailed a three-pointer as the first half horn sounded.

Keonta Howell scored a career-high 19 points on 8-of-13 shooting to lead the Rockets. MAC Preseason Player of the Year Keith Triplett added 15 points, while Pinson netted 10.

East Carolina returns to action on Tuesday, December 7 at Western Carolina. The game is scheduled for a 7 p.m. tip-off.

Head Coach Bill Herrion
"This was just a great gut check and a character win for our basketball team and our program. You could feel people getting down on us after the Gardner Webb game last week and you could really feel it in the community. This is a young basketball team and we need these fans behind us and they need motivation."

"We have been talking about trying to come out in the beginning of games and establish ourselves, particularly at home. That is the best start we have had in a long time. We had great energy, great intensity and to be honest with you I think we won the game within the first five or 10 minutes of the game."

"They [Toledo] are very good. I told the kids in the locker room that this might be the most up-tempo, high powered, potent offense we have played against; they just come at you. They are very well coached offensively, very tough to stop, and they have very good individual players."

"We made plays down the stretch. We rode Mike Cook like a horse. He was dead tired and we just could not get him a rest. He made some tough shots late in the game. Moussa came up big with the two free throws at the end. Corey Rouse had some key rebounds and a big time dunk at the end. Both teams made plays all game. Fortunately we made the plays at the very end."

"It was just a really good win for us I am very pleased and very happy with this basketball team. These kids really deserved a win like this."