East Carolina University
8-6,0-1AMERICAN
UCF
7-5,1-0AMERICAN
ECU Squanders 10-Point Lead In Loss To UCF
January 02, 2016 | Men's Basketball
GREENVILLE, N.C. --- A poor shooting night cost East Carolina a chance to remain undefeated at home as it dropped its American Athletic Conference opener to UCF, 71-68, Saturday night.
The Pirates (8-6, 0-1) led by 10 points with 8:41 left in the second half, but the Knights (7-5, 1-0) went on an 18-6 run to take a 61-59 lead with 3:00 to go. UCF sophomore guard Adonys Henriquez drilled his second consecutive 3 from just left of the top of the key to put the Knights ahead to stay and snapped ECU's home winning streak at seven.
The Knights' lead reach five on a deep 3-pointer by A.J. Davis with 1:18 to play.
ECU junior Caleb White's 3-pointer with 19 seconds left cut the Pirates' deficit to one, but Davis made two free throws with 11 ticks left to push the lead back to three.
UCF elected to foul Prince Williams on the ensuing possession, to avoid a game tying 3-pointer, and he made both free throws to bring ECU back within a point. UCF junior Tanksley Efianayi added two more points to the board with a pair of free throws for the final margin of victory as Williams game-tying 3 at the buzzer missed.
The Knights finished the game 21 of 26 (.808) at the free throw line, making 9 of 10 in the final seven minutes.
East Carolina trailed by three at intermission, but opened the second half on a 15-2 run, which included a string of nine unanswered points. The Pirates made 10 of their first 18 shots after halftime to obtain a double-digit lead, before going cold in the final eight minutes, making just three of its final 15 field goal attempts.
The Pirates finished the game shooting just 34.8 percent, while UCF posted a 44.2 field goal percentage after connecting on 55.2 percent of its second half attempts.
A 72.5 percent free throw shooting team entering the contest, the Pirates shot just 65.2 percent (15 of 23) at the charity stripe and just 26.9 percent (7 of 26) outside the arc.
Davis led all scorers with 23 points, while Efianayi added 12 off the bench with Daiquan Walker scoring 11 and Henriquez finishing with 10.
B.J. Tyson led the Pirates with 17 points and White had 16. Freshman Kentrell Barkley scored 14 off the bench and Williams had 11.
Six-foot-10, 325-lb. UCF junior Justin McBride grabbed 13 rebounds.
