PROVIDENCE, R.I. - In a thrilling night of American Athletic Conference men's basketball action, UCF matched its win total from all of last season while Temple improved to 4-0 in overtime games this season. The Knight avenged a loss at Memphis earlier this season, downing the Tigers, 79-72. Temple and USF once again went to overtime in their second matchup of the season and once again the Owls were victorious, 70-69.
Saturday, February 16
UCF 79, Memphis 72
Avenging a road loss earlier in the season, UCF took care of business at home, earning a 79-72 victory over visiting Memphis Saturday evening at CFE Arena.
The Knights (19-5, 9-3) led by as many as 12 points in the second half, but the Tigers (15-11, 7-6) cut UCF's deficit to just one point, at 69-68 with 2:01 left to play in the game.
After a 30-second timeout by head coach Johnny Dawkins, the Knights worked the ball around the perimeter and found Aubrey Dawkins open on the wing. The redshirt junior guard, who scored just two points in the first half, knocked it down with confidence, for three of his 15 second-half points.
That triple ignited an 8-0 run down the stretch to clinch it. BJ Taylor hit 6-of-7 from the stripe down the stretch to lead the Knights to the win.
Taylor led the way the entire night, finishing with a team-high 25 points, shooting 3-of-6 from three-point range and 12-of-14 from the line. The Orlando native added five assists, five rebounds and one steal in the victory.
It marked the guard's ninth 20-point game of the season and his third in the last five games. It was Taylor's third-highest point total of the year.
Dawkins finished with 17 points. With UCF's all-time leading three-point shooter Matt Williams in attendance, Dawkins went 3-of-5 from deep and was a perfect 4-of-4 from the line.
In fact, the entire team was on its game from the stripe, ending the night 25-of-30. Even Tacko Fall, who came in shooting just 32.5 percent from the line, went 5-of-7.
Fall scored 15 points with seven rebounds. Terrell Allen also finished in double figures, scoring 10 points to go with six rebounds and three assists. Chad Brown led UCF with eight rebounds and a season-high four blocked shots.
Jeremiah Martin led the Tigers with 25 points and a team-high six assists and Kareem Brewton Jr. added 14 points and a team-high seven rebounds.
UCF has now matched its overall and conference win totals from last season, standing at 19-5 overall and 9-3 in league play. The Knights remain in third place in The American with a critical road game up next.
Temple 70, USF 69 (OT)
Shizz Alston, Jr., scored eight of his game-high 24 points in overtime to lead Temple to a thrilling 70-69 win at USF Saturday night. Alston drained his lone three-pointer in the extra frame, extending his streak to 37 games, to give the Owls the lead for good, 68-65.
Alston then hit two free throws in the final minute to help seal the victory. Temple improves to 19-7 and 9-4 in the American Athletic Conference while USF falls to 17-8 and 7-6.
Temple overcame a nine-point second-half deficit (45-36) to tie the game with 40 seconds left on a three-point play by Nate Pierre-Louis.
Alston struggled through a rough shooting game making just nine of 20 shots from the field and missing his first six three-point attempts before draining his final try in overtime.
Two fouls in the final seconds of overtime proved to be the difference. Alston made one of two free throws with 1.5 seconds on the clock to give Temple a 70-69 lead and UCF's David Collins missed two free throws with 0.8 seconds on the clock to enable the Owls to escape with the victory.
Temple starting center Ernest Aflakpui did not make the trip as he is sidelined with an upper right leg injury suffered during the SMU game. His status is day-to-day.
The Owls are now a perfect 6-0 at USF and improve to 7-4 in road games this season and 9-5 away from home.
Temple is also 4-0 in overtime games this season and 23-7 in Fran Dunphy's 13 seasons at the helm.
Alston scored 20 or more points for the 11th time this season while setting a season-high with seven rebounds. He also had a game-high six assists.
Pierre-Louis was the only other Owl to reach double-figures, tallying 14 points to go along with his game-high four steals.
De'Vondre Perry had his best offensive output since the Memphis win, tallying seven points on a perfect shooting night from the field (2-2 FG, 1-1 3pts).
Justyn Hamilton had another fine game, scoring nine points over 22 minutes off the bench.
Quinton Rose, who played despite being sick, had his team-best streak of 20 consecutive games scoring in double figures come to an end with an eight-point night.
Rideau finished with a team-high 16 points and five assists and reached 1,000 career points. David Collins added 15 points and Xavier Castaneda scored 11 points and had two steals. Alexis Yetna grabbed 13 rebounds and Michael Durr had 11 and two blocks.
UPCOMING GAMES