GREENVILLE, N.C. (AP) -- East Carolina coach Steve Logan refused to divulge his halftime message to his team.

Whatever he said worked, spurring the No. 20 Pirates to increase a 14-7 halftime lead with 38 unanswered points en route to a 52-7 victory over Tulane on Saturday.

	East Carolina's Keith Stokes breaks away from Tulane defender Jamal Jones.

"It cannot be repeated," Logan said. "We did some soul searching. ... At halftime there was a severe challenge put forth."

David Garrard heard the message. He overcame three interceptions in the first half to amass 271 yards passing and 97 rushing, throw a touchdown pass and run for a score.

"He (Logan) pulled me aside, and told me I was trying to do too much," Garrard said of the halftime conversation. "We came out to play in the second half and turned the game around."

In the third quarter, the Pirates (6-1, 2-1 Conference USA) increased the lead to 21-7 on Rashon Burns' 26-yard run, a TD set up by Garrard's 42-yard run.

Andrew Bayes' 30-yard field goal made it 24-7 with 7:32 remaining in the third quarter, and Tulane (3-4, 1-2) was on the ropes.

East Carolina put it away with two scores in the last five minutes of the quarter, on Jamie Wilson's 41-yard run and Kwabena Green's 45-yard return of a fumble by Tulane quarterback Patrick Ramsey with 2:53 left.

With 12:09 to play, Leonard Henry ran 7 yards to give East Carolina a 45-7 lead and Marcellus Harris caught a 60-yard pass from backup quarterback Richard Alston with 6:51 to go.

"The first drive in the second half was critical. We fell behind in the second half and couldn't get back in the game," Tulane coach Chris Scelfo said.

Ramsey, the nation's total offense leader with 358 yards per game, was held to just 107 yards passing and minus-49 rushing.

East Carolina took advantage of Tulane's first turnover to take a 7-0 lead with 9:03 left in the first quarter. Pernell Griffin intercepted Ramsey's pass to give the Pirates possession at the Tulane 31, and Garrard completed a pass to Corey Floyd on the next play for a touchdown.

Tulane tied it on Ramsey's 3-yard pass to JaJuan Dawson with 1:08 to go in the first quarter.

Garrard's 12-yard run gave East Carolina a 14-7 lead with 13:33 left in the half.

Tulane, which has lost to three ranked teams in four weeks, had not scored less than 10 points since 1996 in a 31-7 loss to Syracuse.