The one-two scoring punch of Craig Porter Jr. and Ricky Council IV helped Wichita State knock out visiting East Carolina, 70-62, Saturday afternoon at Charles Koch Arena in the regular season finale both schools.
 
The Shockers (15-12, 6-9 American) locked up the No. 7 seed in next week's Air Force Reserve American Athletic Conference Championship and will meet either Tulsa or South Florida – the No. 10 seed – in Thursday's first round (2 p.m. CT, ESPNU).
 
Tulsa currently holds the 10-seed, but USF can steal it with a win at Temple and a Tulsa loss to UCF. Both of those games take place Sunday afternoon.
 
Council finished with a game-high 20 points on 8-of-15 shooting and grabbed seven rebounds. Porter logged his first double-double with 15 points and a career-high 10 rebounds to go with four assists and a pair of blocks.
 
Porter and Council teamed up for 25 of the last 30 Shocker points, beginning with Council's go-ahead layup with 14:00 to play.
 
WSU clung to a 56-55 lead near the 5:00-mark, but Porter and Council drove for dunks on back-to-back possessions to key a 10-0 Shocker run that effectively iced the game.
 
Tyson Etienne contributed 12 points on 3-8 of three-point shooting and leaped both Jason Perez and Terrel Benton for fourth-place on WSU's career triples list. He has 198 now.
 
Morris Udeze was 6-of-9 from the field and finished with 12 points.
 
Tristen Newton supplied 16 points, 11 rebounds and six assists for ECU (15-14, 6-11), which will be the No. 9 seed in next week's tournament, opposite No. 8 Cincinnati.
 
WSU improved to 6-0 all-time against ECU. Due to a mixture of COVID-19 and unbalanced scheduling, this was the first meeting between the schools in more than 26 months.
 
The Shockers also logged win No. 750 all-time at the Roundhouse (1955-pr.). They're 750-230 in 66 seasons.
 
WSU shot 48.3 percent to ECU's 36.1 but went just 3-of-18 from deep.
 
The Shockers missed all seven of their three-point attempts in the second half but had success attacking the basket with Porter and Council.
 
WSU outscored the visiting Pirates 42-22 in the paint and out-rebounded them 41-31.
 
The Shockers led 26-12 with just over 6:00 to play in the first half but allowed the Pirates back into the game with a mixture of turnovers and poor shot selection.
 
ECU mounted a 15-2 run to close within 30-27 in the last two minutes of the first half.
 
The Shockers led 34-29 at halftime and scored on their first possession out of the locker room before enduring a five-minute scoring drought.
 
Newton and R.J. Felton scored five points apiece during a 10-0 Pirate run that turned a seven-point deficit into a three-point lead.
 
The lead changed hands three more times before Porter took over, driving for layups on three-straight possessions to put the Shockers in front for good near the 7:00-mark.
 
WSU held ECU scoreless for more than four minutes to during its 10-0 run that pushed a 56-55 advantage to 66-55 with 1:16 to go.