GREENVILLE — When it’s ugly, defense is going to win.

East Carolina beat South Florida 29-14 on Thursday night in rain-soaked Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium. Critics will howl about the Pirates’ three lost fumbles, the two missed kicks, a few play call decisions here and there on offense.

And, oh, that missed chance at the 1-yard-line seconds before halftime.

“The kids kept their composure,” coach Mike Houston said after his team rose to 4-4, 2-2 in the American Athletic Conference. “That was a dominant performance in the second half.”

Yes it was. And stops in the first quarter should not be forgotten.

Seniors Bruce Bivens and Aaron Ramseur, sophomores Malik Fleming, Shawn Dorseau and Ja’Quan McMillian, and freshmen Suirad Ware and Teagan Wilk arguably had the night’s biggest plays.

The kind that win football games. The kind that build foundation.

Even when the offense bungled a scoring chance at the 1.

“Past several years, they’re done,” Houston flatly said. “It shows growth and maturity of our roster, as a whole.”

This is a program with recent defensive history more woeful than a kitchen sponge. Teams routinely scoring two touchdowns a quarter on ECU are not that far back in the memory banks.

McMillian’s tip and Dorseau’s pick stopped the Bulls with a 12-point difference midway the final period. It came after South Florida (2-6) imploded, bombing itself into submission with two penalties costing not only a touchdown but roughly 90 yards of field position.

Wilk’s first interception was a final stoppage. Fleming’s was the game-changer.

He stepped on the outside island in front of a pass for Demarcus Gregory at the Bulls’ 31 in the third quarter and raced untouched to a 19-14 ECU lead.

“You can’t make that play unless you’re a baller,” Wilk said.

A goal-line stand, and a stop inside the 20, would have been the talk of the town had they come in the fourth quarter. That they came in the first should really be no less significant, and might be more so given the narrative that could have developed. South Florida, after all, didn’t start a drive in its territory until the third time it touched the football.

It was Bivens and Ware stopping a fourth-down try at the ECU 4, and it was Ramseur recovering the fumble caused by Wilk at the ECU 17.

Big-time plays in a tie ballgame.

For all that had been gained, a missed extra point and three lost fumbles before halftime left Houston saying, “All the momentum was against us.”

And, like he said, in past years the Pirates would have been tailgate-cooked for the second half.

Not this time.

Another missed kick, this one for 3, preceded Fleming’s defining moment.

“It’s good for the fans to see we can do that,” Wilk said. “It gives us hope. Our defense stepped up. We pitched a shutout second half.

“As a group, we stay together and we don’t really panic.”

It’s a defense that is growing. It’s improving, and loaded with underclassmen.

How good are they?

“Good enough to win tonight,” Houston said.

And that, to be honest, is all they ever need to be. Every time out.

Bladen Journal sports columnist Alan Wooten can be reached at 910-247-9132 or awooten@bladenjournal.com.