East Carolina University
UCF
ECU Unable To Overcome Knights' Hot Shooting
January 07, 2012 | Men's Basketball
Jan. 7, 2012
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| UCF 81, East Carolina 63 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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GREENVILLE, N.C. - Isaiah Sykes scored 20 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to lead UCF over East Carolina, 81-63, inside Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum Saturday, ending the Pirates' four-game winning streak against the Knights.
The Knights (12-3, 2-0 C-USA) shot over 50 percent from the floor in both halves and finished the game at 52.2 percent (35-67) compared to just 36.7 percent shooting (22-60) for the Pirates, who were out-rebounded by 17 (46-29).
UCF junior Keith Clanton and senior A.J. Rompza each added 16, while Marcus Jordan scored 12.
Miguel Paul led ECU (9-6, 0-2) with 21 points with Maurice Kemp scoring 14 and Darrius Morrow netting 11.
UCF jumped out to a 7-0 lead, but the Pirates used an 8-2 spurt to pull within one at the first media timeout. The Knights responded by scoring eight unanswered as part of a 14-1 run to take a 14-point lead, as Rompza scored nine points during the run.
The Pirates trimmed their deficit seven at intermission, 38-31, as Paul sank his second 3-pointer of the half with 28 seconds before Morrow rejected Jordan's 3-point attempts at the halftime buzzer.
ECU shot 36.7 percent (11-30) in the opening stanza, while UCF converted on 50 percent (16-32) of its field goal attempts. The Knights limited the Pirates to just four offensive rebounds and out-rebounded them overall 23-14, grabbing more defensive boards (15) than yielding total.
The second half was a repeat performance of the first with the Pirates posing duplicate shooting total (11-30, .367) and the Knights connecting on over 50 percent (.543) from the field.
The Knights opened the second half on a 19-4 run taking a 22-point lead, 57-35, in just under eight minutes. Clanton scored five straight points to spark a 10-0 run and give UCF its largest lead of the game.
Three times ECU pulled within 11 points, but never cut its deficit under double figures.
East Carolina returns to action Saturday, Jan. 14 against Tulsa. Tip-off is scheduled for 1 p.m. inside Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum.
