Katin Houser’s late touchdown pass rallies East Carolina to 31-27 victory over Memphis

GREENVILLE, N.C. (AP) — Katin Houser threw a go-ahead touchdown pass to Payton Mangrum with 68 seconds remaining and East Carolina rallied to beat Memphis 31-27 on Saturday.

Houser drove East Carolina (7-3, 5-1 American Conference) 75 yards in six plays, connecting with Mangrum for a 31-yard touchdown. Houser completed 23 of 34 passes for 332 yards.

Ayden Duncanson and Josh Benton stuffed Frank Peasant on a fourth-and-1 run and the Pirates took over at their own 18 with 5:49 left to play.

Four plays later Everett Roussaw Jr. forced a Houser fumble and Pooda Walker recovered at the East Carolina 24. The Tigers turned it into a 30-yard field goal by Gianni Spetic for a 27-24 lead with 2:29 remaining.

East Carolina took a 7-0 lead on its second possession when London Montgomery scored on a 1-yard run.

Memphis (8-3, 4-3) pulled even early in the second quarter on Brendon Lewis’ 5-yard touchdown pass to Matt Adcock on fourth-and-3.

Memphis took its first lead after Sutton Smith raced 84 yards for a score on a first-down run. Nick Mazzie and Spetic traded field goals over the final 2:19 and the Tigers led 17-10 at halftime.

Houser scored on a 1-yard run to tie it 17-all just three minutes into the third quarter.

Lewis gave Memphis a 24-17 lead on a 7-yard touchdown run, but Montgomery raced 23 yards for a score to tie it after three quarters. Montgomery finished with 103 yards on 27 carries.

Lewis totaled 209 yards on 32-for-43 passing. Smith rushed for 109 yards on seven carries.

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