East Carolina Pirates

Central Florida vs. East Carolina

Peppers connected on 8-of-14 shots, including 5-of-10 from the arc, as the fifth-seeded Golden Knights built an early lead and were never threatened in the second half.

The victory moved UCF (14-14) into Thursday's game against Houston, the tournament's fourth seed, which had a bye.

Corey Rouse scored 21 points and grabbed 14 rebounds to lead the 12th-seeded Pirates (8-20). Rouse's points came despite being the focus of the UCF defense. Most of the time, the Pirates' leading scorer faced double-teams down low.

Jeremy Ingram finished with 16 points, all in the second half, for East Carolina.

UCF buried the Pirates early behind Peppers, the only Golden Knight to finish the game in double figures. Peppers had 17 points in the first half as the Golden Knights hit five of their first seven shots from long range, and 6-of-11 in the half.

The Golden Knights' 54 percent shooting from 3-point range was better than its overall 50 percent shooting in the half.