East Carolina University
UCF
Pirates Drop 89-69 Decision to UCF
January 16, 2016 | Men's Basketball
From staff and wire reports
ORLANDO, Fla. - A.J. Davis, Daiquan Walker and Adonys Henriquez all scored 13 points and the University of Central Florida rode a big first half to a comfortable, 89-69 win over East Carolina Saturday.
The Knights' sweep of the season series with ECU is their first since the 2011-12 season. East Carolina swept the season series a year ago, including a win in the American Athletic Conference tournament.
UCF roared to a 60-32 halftime lead in the first half. Matt Williams knocked down three 3-pointers in the first five minutes, his third sending the Knights to a 16-10 lead.
The Knights then used a quick 13-5 spurt to push its lead out to 14, 29-15. East Carolina climbed back within nine, 36-27, and had a chance to cut it to seven when Lance Tejada's layup rolled off the right side of the rim, igniting an 8-0 run. UCF outscored East Carolina 24-5 in the final seven minutes of the first half.
The Knights shot 66.7 percent (22-of-33) from the floor and made 8-of-16 3-pointers during the first 20 minutes. UCF got the ball inside to Tacko Fall and Justin McBride, who each scored 10 of their 12 points prior to halftime, and dropped in 26 points in the paint.
UCF (9-6, 3-1), finished the game shooting 54.2 percent from the field, including 12 of 27 from deep, while East Carolina shot 40.9 percent.
Caleb White and B.J. Tyson scored 20 and 19 points, respectively, to lead East Carolina (8-10, 0-5). White tied his career-high with six 3-pointers and moved into seventh-place on the school's career 3-point field goals made list with 161. Tyson led the Pirates with eight rebounds and freshman Kentrell Barkley dished out a career-best 10 assists, the most by any ECU player this season.
Although the halftime deficit was too great for the Pirates to overcome, they did force 11 turnovers in the second half and converted those into 15 points. ECU also held UCF to less than 40 percent from the field and outscored the Knights by eight, 37-29.
East Carolina returns home Tuesday, Jan. 18, to take on Tulsa inside Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum at 7 p.m.
