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East Carolina defeats UCF 67-49 in Greenville
- Updated: February 8, 2015
The UCF men’s basketball team dropped its sixth straight American Athletic Conference contest on Saturday, falling on the road to East Carolina by a score of 67-49.
The Pirates (10-13, 3-7) used a 17-4 run to end the first half to take a 31-22 lead into the break. ECU forced UCF into 12 turnovers and just 1-of-6 shooting from beyond the arc over the first 20 minutes of play. Caleb White led the Pirates with 14 points in the first half alone.
“Turnovers are something we need to control,” head coach Donnie Jones said after the game. “We can talk about it and we can work on it in practice, but when you get into the game you need to be able to execute.”
The Knights (9-13, 2-9) cut their deficit to just six points when sophomore Brandon Goodwin scored five straight points by himself to make it just 39-33 with 14:16 to play. The Pirates, however, countered with a 7-0 spurt to push their lead back to double digits.
UCF got within single digits just once more when freshman B.J. Taylor hit a three and then went 1-for-2 from the line to make it 46-38 with 10:24 to play. ECU countered with another 8-0 run, led by as many as 21, and cruised to the 67-49 victory.
The Pirates, who outscored UCF 19-7 off of turnovers and 11-2 on the break, were led by White’s game highs of 21 points and nine rebounds. Terry Whisnant had 11 and B.J. Tyson and Michael Zangari chipped in with 10 each.
Junior Staphon Blair led the way for UCF, scoring 12 points and grabbing seven boards in 30 minutes of action. Taylor, in his first game back after suffering a concussion, scored 10 points, but went just 2-of-11 from the field. Goodwin also had 10 points to go along with a team high eight boards, but turned the ball over five times.
“Our kids have to keep battling,” Jones said. “We just can’t beat ourselves up. We have to regroup and get ready. We now have a chance to go back home for a two-game stand.”
The Knights, who shot just 2-of-16 from beyond the arc for a .125 three-point percentage on Saturday, will return home to hos USF Wednesday at 7 p.m.
