BOX SCORE | POSTGAME PRESS CONFERENCE VIDEO
IRVING, Texas – Behind a balanced attack with five players in double figures, UCF advanced to the quarterfinals of the 2021 Air Force Reserve American Athletic Conference Men’s Basketball Championship with a 72-62 win over East Carolina on Thursday evening, March 11, at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth Texas.
UCF (11-11) advances to face No. 3 Memphis on Friday, March 12 at 10 p.m. ET/9 p.m. CT on ESPNU.
Darius Perry led UCF with 15 points, while Avery Diggs (12 points), Darin Green Jr. (12), Brandon Mahan (10) and Jamille Reynolds (10) also reached double-digit scoring.
The Knights shot 47.2 percent from the field (25-of-53), holding ECU (8-11) to 41.0 percent field-goal shooting (25-of-61) and only 18.8 percent from 3-point range (3-16).
ECU’s Jayden Gardner scored a game-high 17 points and moved into a tie for 12th place all-time on The American’s career scoring charts with 1,462 points. Gardner is now tied with Nic Moore of SMU (2013-16) and Gary Clark of Cincinnati (2014-18). Gardner is also now fifth all-time in conference history with 705 career rebounds.
All of the latest information regarding the tournament can be found on Championship Central at
TheAmerican.org/mbb.
Air Force Reserve American Athletic Conference Men’s Basketball Championship
March 11-14, 2021
Dickies Arena
Fort Worth, Texas
First Round – Thursday, March 11
Game 1 – No. 8 USF 73, No. 9 Temple 71
Game 2 - No. 10 Tulane 77, No. 7 Tulsa 70
Game 3 - No. 6 UCF 72, No. 11 ECU 62
Quarterfinals – Friday, March 12
Game 4 – No. 8 USF vs. No. 1 Wichita State – Noon ET/11 a.m. CT – ESPN2
Game 5 – No. 5 Cincinnati vs. No. 4 SMU – 3 p.m. ET/2 p.m. CT – ESPN2
Game 6 – No. 10 Tulane vs. No. 2 Houston – 7 p.m. ET/6 p.m. CT – ESPNU
Game 7 – No. 6 UCF vs. No. 3 Memphis – 10 p.m. ET/9 p.m. CT – ESPNU
Semifinals – Saturday, March 13
Game 8 - Winner of Game 4 vs. Winner of Game 5 - 3 p.m. ET/2 p.m. CT – ESPN2
Game 9 - Winner of Game 6 vs. Winner of Game 7 - 5:30 p.m. ET/4:30 p.m. CT – ESPN2
Championship Final – Sunday, March 14
Game 10 - Winner of Game 8 vs. Winner of Game 9 - 3:15 p.m. ET/2:15 p.m. CT - ESPN