Knights run win streak to 5
The UCF Knights hadn’t allowed more than 62 points during their current four-game winning streak.
One streak remains intact, and that’s just fine with the Knights.
B.J. Taylor scored a game-high 24 points, including a pair of clutch 3-pointers in the second half, as UCF picked up a 70-64 nonconference win over Alabama on Thursday night at CFE Arena to extend its winning streak to five.
The Knights nearly held their fifth straight opponent to 62 points or less until John Petty hit a 3-pointer with 14 seconds left on a possession where the Crimson Tide missed three shots.
At any rate, UCF (6-1) held Alabama (5-2) to 38 percent shooting from the field (25 of 66) and snapped the Crimson Tide’s threegame winning streak.
“That was a tremendous effort to hold that team to 64 points,” UCF coach Johnny Dawkins said. “With their ability to score the basketball inside and out, it took a great effort and I think our guys showed that tonight. We beat a very good basketball team, one that’s going to win a lot of games.”
More important, the Knights, who led by as many as 12 points during parts of the first half, didn’t let a double-digit lead slip away. Their 80-79 loss to FAU earlier this season, during which UCF squandered a 20-point lead, remains its only blemish.
“We have to stay locked in throughout the whole game,” said Taylor, who hit 9 of 11 free throws. “We have to make it as tough on the other team as possible because we remember what happened in the FAU game when we let them come back and make some shots, make a run. So it just motivates us now to where we have to close out every game.”
The Knights closed it out by holding Alabama to just 1 of 7 shooting down the stretch.
Aubrey Dawkins was 10 of 10 from the free-throw line to finish with 16 points, and Tacko Fall recorded 10 points — all in the second half — on a night during which he played just 18 minutes because of foul trouble.
After falling behind 40-38 with 14:40 to play, the Knights went on an 18-10 run as Taylor scored 10 points, including 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions, that put UCF up 56-50.
“That was a big sequence for us. They had game momentum and they were playing well. We wanted to just regroup, let our guys settle down, understand exactly what we were trying to do and where we wanted the ball to go,” Johnny Dawkins said. “We got the ball into B.J.’s hands in some good situations, and he took advantage of it. That’s what he does, so I was really happy for him.”
Alabama, which out-rebounded UCF 46-29, pulled within 61-59 before Dayon Griffin buried a 3 at the 3:08 mark to give the Knights some breathing room. Taylor and Collin Smith combined to hit 4 of 6 free throws over the final 55 seconds to seal the win.
UCF appeared ready to pull away after Chad Brown scored four points to spark a 9-0 run that produced a 15-4 lead at the 11:16 mark of the first half. But after a Brown dunk pushed UCF in front 25-13, the Knights went the next 6:08 without a field goal. UCF produced just two field goals over the final 12:23 of the half.