Red Storm edge Knights for 3rd place at AdvoCare Invitational
LAKE BUENA VISTA — Things were not looking too good for the UCF basketball team three minutes into Sunday’s third-place game at the AdvoCare Invitational.
The Knights came in looking to cut down on turnovers and create more of an offensive flow, but they did neither in watching St. John’s jump out to a 10-0 lead. Somehow, however, UCF found a way to make a game of it, albeit an ugly one, and fell just shy of knocking off the Red Storm 46-43 at ESPN’s Wide World of Sports.
“It was a tough, hardfought game, I think, by both teams,” UCF coach Johnny Dawkins said. “It was a defensive game, mostly. I don’t think either team had a good flow offensively and I give each team’s defensive efforts the credit for that.
“Both teams locked in and made it very hard to get easy baskets and unfortunately we came out on the short end. They made a few more plays than we made in the second half and they were able to secure the win.”
Despite falling behind 10-0 to start the game and turning the ball over four times in the first three minutes, UCF kept scrapping with tough defense. The Knights threw a variety of defensive looks at St. John’s and that seemed to help keep the Johnnies from finding their own offensive rhythm.
Shamorie Ponds of St. John’s, the tournament’s leading scorer, came into the game with a shot at breaking the tourney scoring record of 73 points, set by Kansas State’s Michael Beasley in 2007.
Ponds needed just 17 points to surpass the mark, but UCF kept him contained. Ponds, who scored 57 points in the first two games, was scoreless at halftime and UCF had clawed its way back to take a 23-22 lead at the break after a pair of offensive put-backs by A.J. Davis and Chad Brown. Ponds was held to six points for the game and shot 1-of-11 from the field.
“I felt like it was a tough game,” Ponds said. “Like, 46-43, it was an ugly game, but I’m just glad we came out with the win.
“I’m pretty comfortable in my team. I feel like anybody can lead the stat sheet in scoring, so it doesn’t matter who has the most at halftime or at the end of the game. … [UCF] didn’t take me out of the game. I just couldn’t find a rhythm.”
Ponds, a 6-foot-1 guard, did manage to grab 10 rebounds, and Marcus Lovett and Marvin Clark II picked up the scoring with 12 and 11 points each.
Dawkins was pleased with his team’s defensive effort.
“St. John’s averages probably 80-plus points a game. To hold them into the 40s takes a heckuva an effort and our guys gave that tonight and that’s what we have to have every time we step on the floor,” Dawkins said.
UCF hit another lull to start the second half and could not recover from there. After falling behind 42-32 with 6:21 remaining, the Knights made another run, hitting St. John’s with an 11-4 run to end the game. Desperation 3-pointers by Ceasar DeJesus and Dayon Griffin in the final four seconds could not find the mark and UCF fell to 4-2 on the season.
Brown led UCF with 12 points, 8-of-13 on free throws, and Davis had 10 rebounds.
UCF tried a few different approaches to establishing an offensive flow, most of which was directed through 7-foot-6 center Tacko Fall and his 6-9 backup Brown. The Knights tried to push the ball inside and it worked at times, but a feisty St. John’s defense did a nice job creating turnovers in the paint. Fall, who scored eight points and had seven rebounds in 18 minutes, also had seven turnovers and fouled out with more than six minutes remaining.
“We played inside-out, which is who we are. We went inside the Tacko and went inside to Chad . ... I think it opened up things on the perimeter,” Dawkins said. “I think we are pressing a little bit on the perimeter and trying to make some things happen. It comes from a good place because they know they have to talent to do it, just unfortunately some things haven’t worked out for us.
“We need to clean up the things we know we can clean up. The main things I think we need to clean up is to value the basketball. We’re gonna make shots. We need to cut down on our turnovers and take care of the basketball.”
The participants for next year’s event also were announced over the weekend, with the exception of one vacant spot. Florida State and Villanova headline the list that includes Oklahoma State, Memphis, LSU, Charleston and UAB.