The UCF men’s basketball team seemed destined to have a similar fate against the Memphis Tigers that they suffered last year when an Antonio Barton last-second three pointer sent a dagger into the Knights faithful and ended an upset bid.
Down two points with four seconds left in regulation, UCF (14-4, 4-1 C-USA) looked like they were going to lose its 11th straight game to their Conference-USA rivals. Barton once again had a chance to beat the Knights for a second-consecutive year after he was sent to the line with a chance to put the Tigers (12-6, 3-1 C-USA) up four points.
However, he missed the front end of a one-and-one free throw, giving the Knights one more chance.
After a UCF timeout, A.J. Rompza missed a desperation shot, but Keith Clanton cleaned up the board and was fouled for an And-One opportunity and nailed the free throw, giving UCF its first-ever win over Memphis in emphatic fashion.
“It’s a good win for our program. We just took it as a one game, but we know it’s a good school, and we haven’t beaten Memphis before. It was a good win, but we have bigger goals for ourselves,” Clanton said.
Clanton also added “That’s right up there with our biggest win.”
It was one of the craziest moments in an already ridiculous sports season at UCF as the Knights beat Memphis for the first time in school history, 68-67, Wednesday night at the UCF Arena.
“We just wanted to attack it like any other game,” Jordan said. “We didn’t want to put it on a pedestal, but we knew what it meant to the school, and we just wanted to go out and leave everything on the court and come out with a W, and that’s what we did.”
After taking the court for the first time since the heartbreaking loss to Marshall Saturday, UCF held on to upset Memphis to preserve their now 16-game home winning streak, and the Knights’ first ever victory over the Tigers.
All the exasperation and frustration built up by a disappointing football season and offseason led to Knights fans finally breaking through and rushing the court for the first time in school history as well.
Both teams were able to get out and run as a high scoring first half was reminiscent of contests past. The stars did not disappoint as Memphis’ sophomore standout Will Barton scored 24 points, while Clanton added 23 points and eight rebounds and scored the go-ahead bucket with four seconds left.
UCF allowed Memphis to shoot 51 percent from the field, but limited them to seven offensive rebounds. Memphis was able to dominate in the paint, scoring over half of its points there, showing their unparalleled athleticism.
A game that saw 16 lead changes and three ties saw a frantic pace throughout as both sides went on runs in the second half with UCF leading by as many as 13. Memphis brought it to within two at 54-52, but Marcus Jordan capped off a 7-0 run with a pretty layup to keep the Tigers at bay.
UCF was in control throughout most of the second half until a Chris Crawford floater in transition gave the Tigers a 64-63 lead with 4:11 remaining. Jordan answered with a lay-up with 1:09 remaining to give the Knights a 65-64 lead. The back-and-forth pace continued as Joe Jackson answered with a three-pointer moments later to give the Tigers a two point lead.
But, it was the Clanton put back that defined the game.
“It was a tough Conference-USA game. I think a lot of games in this league are where you just got to grind it out and find a way to win, and that’s what we did tonight,” Jordan said.
Jordan added 20 points for the Knights and came up really big in the second half after shooting three-of-17 against Marshall last Saturday. He shot seven-of-13 in the game.
The Knights will return to action Saturday after two straight emotional games with a matchup against UAB.
