A.J. Davis tossed in 17 game high points and Ceasar DeJesus added 15 to lead UCF past slumping East Carolina 59-39 in Minges Coliseum to close out what has been a tough calendar year for the Pirates.
The Pirates committed 21 turnovers, went 2-14 from the arc and had just five assists in the contest. B.J. Tyson was the only ECU player in double-figures with 13 points. Kentrell Barkley had nine points and Isaac Fleming added eight points for the Pirates.
7-6 Taco Fall got two quick fouls early the game and that should have given ECU an opportunity to take advantage in his absence, but in the end it didn’t work out that way.
“Taco is such a presence for us in that low post, but with him absent most of the first half I thought the guys stepped up and really played hard for the first twenty minutes of the game," UCF head coach Johnny Dawkins said, “We said when we took over the program that we wanted to hang our hat on the defensive side of the court and build our program out from that. The guys have really bought into that and that’s given us a chance to win every night."
UCF stepped on the gas early taking a quick 15-5 lead on ECU on seven early Ceasar DeJesus points. The Knights got more shot attempts than the Pirates who committed ten first half turnovers and hit just 21 percent of their shots in the first sixteen minutes of the game.
“The real killer was the turnovers. You can not give them that many more opportunities. Some of those were live ball turnovers which resulted in baskets for them on a night when we were having problems scoring the basketball.39 percent defensive field goal percentage is a number we could build upon. You can win games with that kind of defensive field goal percentage," said interim ECU head coach Mike Perry, “We’ve got to do a better job in terms of just taking care of and valuing the basketball."
The Knights expanded their lead to 24-9 on a three-point play from A.J. Davis before Kentrell Barkley’s layup finally broke UCF run with just over three minutes to go in the half.
After a double technical foul on A.J. Davis for UCF and B.J. Tyson for ECU, K.J. Davis tossed in a three-point jumper and Dimitri Spasojevic canned a hook shot in the paint to highlight a late 9-3 ECU run. But that only improved the Pirates' first half shooting percentage to a paltry 28.6 percent. That cut the Knight lead to 27-18 at halftime in what was the lowest scoring output in a half this season from the Pirates.
Davis scored 11 points in the first period and was the only player in double digit scoring at intermission. Kentrell Barkley scored five first half points after missing a dunk attempt as time expired in the half.
UCF went just 2 of 10 from three point range while ECU managed to hit just 1 of 7 in the first twenty minutes.
Ceasar DeJesus scored five more points in the first two minutes of the second half and Djordjije Mumin nailed a pair of treys as UCF’s lead grew to 19 at 41-20.
Fleming finally broke a 16-0 UCF run with his fourth point of the game with 12:34 to play. Then Kentrell Barkley’s double-pump in the lane, a pair of Tyson baskets and two more Fleming buckets found ECU on an 14-2 run as ECU cut the lead to 45-32 midway through the second half.
A pair of Barkley free throws cut the lead to eleven. Terrell Allen’s first trey of the game finally broke the Pirate run and a pair of A.J Davis baskets found UCF back up by 19 and the Knights coasted the rest of the way.
ECU falls to 6-7 and 0-2 in AAC play with the loss while UCF improves to 10-4 and 1-1 in conference play with the victory.
