EAST CAROLINA 41, (24) BOISE ST 38 ---------------------------------- HONOLULU (Ticker) -- East Carolina had to sweat it out, but its bowl drought is finally over.

Ben Hartman kicked the game-winning 34-yard field goal in the fourth quarter to lift the Pirates to a thrilling 41-38 victory over No. 24 Boise State in the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl on Sunday.

It was East Carolina's first bowl win since defeating Texas Tech, 40-27, in the now defunked Galleryfurniture.com Bowl back in 2000.

The Pirates (8-5) were enjoying a commanding 38-14 edge following Brandon Simmons' 3-yard touchdown run with 9:02 remaining in the third quarter.

However, the Broncos (10-3) made things interesting in the fourth when D.J. Harper cut the deficit to 38-31 with 7:09 remaining on a one-yard touchdown.

Things continued to turn for East Carolina when Chris Johnson's fumble was returned 47 yards for the score by Marty Tadman to tie the game at 38-38 with 1:25 left.

But the Pirates regrouped for the final drive of the game.

On third-and-eight, backup Rob Kass completed 36-yard strike to keep East Carolina hopes alive. After two rushing attempts, the Pirates called upon Hartman for his late-game heroics.

Despite his late-game fumble, Johnson was stellar en route to establishing a new all-purpose yards record in a bowl game with 409 yards to was previously held by Sherman Williams (Alabama) in the 1995 Citrus Bowl.

Johnson carried 28 times for 224 yards, including a 68-yard TD in the first quarter to give East Carolina a 10-7 edge with 4:25 left.

The Pirates continued to pound the ball in the second as Dominique Lindsay scored on a 3-yard run with 12:31 remaining, while Johnson found the end zone once again through the air on an 18-yard pass from Patrick Pinkney four minutes later to make it 24-7.

With 33 seconds left before the break, Lindsay completed the huge second-quarter outburst with another 3-yard scamper to extend the lead to 31-14 at intermission.

East Carolina's Pinkney went 12-of-19 for 118 yards.

Boise State finished with just 98 rushing yards due to the limited action of standout tailback Ian Johnson, who had just 11 because of a leg injury sustained in practice on Tuesday.

Broncos quarterback Taylor Tharpe completed 30-of-44 passes for 265 yards and two touchdowns with two interceptions.

Boise State had a golden opportunity to slice the deficit to 10 at the break, but Tanyon Bissell dropped a would-be touchdown from Tharp at the horn.

Austin Smith's impressive 89-yard kickoff return in the opening quarter helped the Broncos grabbed their only lead of the game, 7-3, with 8:10 to go.