East Carolina shot lights out in the first half of Sunday's bout with in-state opponent Western Carolina, easily disposing of the Catamounts 95-79 inside Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum.

The Pirates (3-0), who captured their 13th-straight non-conference victory, scored the most points of head coach Joe Dooley's tenure at ECU. Western Carolina (1-2) led for only 22 seconds in dropping its second straight.

Tristen Newton exploded for a career-high 30 points while also pacing the squad in rebounds (six) and assists (six). Brandon Suggs collected 15 points and six boards of his own and Tremont Robinson-White contributed 14 points and five steals in 21 minutes off of the bench. Nick Robinson led the visitors with 28 points, nine rebounds and five assists.

The Catamounts finished the contest shooting 41.3 percent (26-for-63) while also holding a slight edge in the rebounding column by a 37-33 margin. East Carolina hit 34 of 66 from the floor to end up firing at a 51.5-percent clip. ECU forced 19 Western Carolina turnovers, converting those miscues into 25 points, and outscored the Catamounts 48-18 in the paint.

A pair of quick buckets by Ludgy Debaut and Vance Jackson gave the Pirates an early 4-0 cushion just 1:09 into the game. A triple by Robinson afforded Western a brief 6-4 lead with 17:35 on the clock, but Jackson answered right away with a driving layup to knot the score.

The teams traded runs over the next few minutes as East Carolina owned a 17-16 edge with 12:02 to play in the frame, but the Pirates quickly seized control by scoring 16 of the next 19 points. The Catamounts could not slice the deficit under double figures and a layup by J.J. Miles saw ECU claim a 21-point lead at 43-22 with time winding down. The Pirates had the last word of the half as Suggs stole the ball and found Robinson-White for a bucket with four seconds remaining.

East Carolina knocked down an astonishing 22 of 32 attempts from the field in the first half and recorded 17 assists on those buckets to build a 26-point halftime advantage – the highest of the Dooley era. The Pirates also scored 59 points in the initial stanza, marking the most for the program in a single half since dropping in 61 in the second half of a non-conference affair with North Carolina back on Dec. 15, 2012 in Chapel Hill.

Western Carolina enjoyed a quick start to the second 20 minutes, putting together a 9-2 run capped by a Robinson basket to cut the ECU lead to 61-42. Unfazed, the Pirates would take what would be their largest advantage of the evening when RJ Felton put in a nice layup off a Robinson-White helper to make the score 77-49 with 12:30 left in regulation.

The Catamounts kept within shouting distance thanks to draining a couple shots from beyond the arc, but would not come closer than 13 the rest of the evening.

Up Next: East Carolina opens the Myrtle Beach Invitational Thursday, Nov. 18 against Oklahoma at 7 p.m. inside Coastal Carolina University's HTC Center. The game will be broadcast live on ESPNU.