UCF falls short at Temple

PHILADELPHIA — The UCF Knights suffered another heartbreaking loss, pushing American Athletic Conference power Temple from start to finish Saturday.

Quenton DeCosey scored 16 points, including the gamewinning jumper with 3.1 seconds left, to help the Owls (18-10, 12-4 AAC) edge the Knights 63-61.

UCF (11-16, 5-11) tied the game when Philadelphia native Daiquan Walker made two of three free throws with a minute left. DeCosey fired an airball 3 near the end of the shot clock but UCF lost the ball out of bounds. DeCosey’s desperation 3 as the shot-clock expired produced a long rebound that Temple’s Josh Brown corralled.

After a timeout at 20.6 seconds, DeCosey dribbled the time down, then worked his way to the free throw line where he pump-faked defender Matt Williams out of the way and swished the winner.

“These guys gave us everything they had,” UCF coach Donnie Jones said of his team’s effort.

UF BEATEN: A pair of Florida high school products helped LSU (17-12, 10-6) score a 96-91win over UF (17-12, 8-8 SEC), putting pressure on the Gators to make an unlikely dominant run through the SEC Tournament to earn an NCAA Tournament bid.

Oak Ridge High graduate Antonio Blakeney scored 32 points and former Montverde Academy standout Ben Simmons added 22 points, 11 rebounds and five assists during a key win for the Tigers.

Florida’s John Egbunu paced the Gators with 22 points and four rebounds, but UF couldn’t overcome the eight consecutive free throws Blakeney hit in the final 30 seconds for the Tigers.