PHILADELPHIA, Penn. – The Dragons kept shooting from beyond the arc, and they didn’t stop.
Overwhelmed by lights out three-point shooting, the UCF men’s basketball team (22-11) ended its season in disappointing fashion, falling to Drexel University, 81-56, in the first round of the National Invitation Tournament Wednesday night at the Daskalakis Athletic Center.
Playing in the program’s first-ever NIT, the No. 6 Knights fell behind early and never had much of a chance to recover as the No. 3 Dragons (28-6) shot UCF right out of the building, converting 11 shots from beyond the arc and shot 51 percent from the field in the game.
“Give them credit. They are very good basketball team,” UCF head coach Donnie Jones said in a press release from UCFAthletics.com. “They really hit some tough shots.”
Drexel, who won the Colonial Athletic Association regular-season title, got four players in double figures, led by 19 points from Chris Fouch, who nailed five long balls in the game. Frantz Massenat came up big with 18 points and nine assists, while Derrick Thomas and Goran Pantovic added 10 points a piece.
The contest started off shaky for the Knights as they fell behind 9-0 early on, before Keith Clanton responded with seven straight points to get UCF back in the game. The Dragons went seven-for-12 from the perimeter in the first half, while limiting the Knights to just 24 points. They would take a 37-24 advantage into halftime.
Then, things got even worse for UCF in the second half.
By the 16-minute mark, Clanton and sophomore Isaiah Sykes had picked up their third fouls.
Although, in their absence, the Knights would go on a mini-run, closing within nine points on several occasions before things got ugly.
The Dragons would go on a 32-14 run over the next nine minutes with an array of three-pointers and fast-break points to pull away. The Knights also appeared agitated by a rowdy home crowd, where the Dragons improved to a perfect 14-0 this season.
The Knights had trouble producing offense throughout the contest, with Clanton being the only UCF player to finish in double figures. The All Conference-USA First Team member finished with 12 points and six rebounds.
Freshman Kasey Wilson posted nine points and eight boards, Tristan Spurlock also had nine, and Isaiah Sykes and Marcus Jordan chipped in seven points each for the Knights.
The Dragons defense limited UCF to 21-of-55 (38%) shooting from the floor, including 26.7 percent from the three-point line.
The Knights were also doomed by foul trouble, with Skyes fouling out late in regulation, while Clanton and A.J. Rompza played most of the second half with four fouls. Rompza ended his college career with six points.
UCF will have a long flight home to ponder all that went wrong in the game and try to improve on their road woes from this season. The Knights finished 3-9 away from Orlando, losing by an average margin of 17 points in the defeats.
Drexel will play Northern Iowa, who defeated Saint Joseph’s 67-65 on Tuesday night, in the second round of the NIT.
It was a frustrating end to an overall successful season for UCF, who notched one of its best records in program history, upset defending national champion UConn, beat Memphis for the first time in school history, made its first NIT appearance, and posted consecutive 20-win campaigns for the first time since 2005-2006.
The Knights will look to bounce back strong next year as they return 84% of their scoring from this season, and have promising recruits and transfers that could make them a force next season.
“I am proud of our season. We had a lot of firsts at our school,” Jones said in a press release from UCFAthletics.com. “This was our first time in the NIT, and we were honored to be a part of this great event. We had some big wins. Our program has done some good things. Our kids battled some adversity and overcame a lot. We had 22 wins, and had back-to-back 20-win seasons. We return a lot of guys next year; we lose two seniors. We are excited about where we are headed.”
