In his last home game as a UCF Knight(19-10, 8-6), forward Keith Clanton turned in one of the best performances of the season scoring 29 points despite falling 76-67 to No.19 Memphis(24-5, 14,0). The Knights came out energized, leading for most of the first half, but could not finish off the Tigers to give them their first Conference USA loss of the season.
Clanton, the Knight’s gritty senior who is UCF’s all-time leader in rebounds, blocks, and games played, was very efficient shooting 10-14 from the field while pulling in six rebounds. Prior to the game, Clanton, along with fellow seniors Bobby Horodyski and Robert King III were honored.
“Coach told me to stay aggressive. Memphis is a team that plays man-to-man, so I felt like I would have the opportunity to score.” Clanton told UCFAthletics.com on his last home game as a Knight.
Memphis, coming off of a loss against Xavier, came out slow letting UCF gain a 14-4 lead to start the game. The Tigers capitalized on UCF’s 10 first half turnovers, which allowed the Tigers to get a slight edge going into halftime, 34-29.
The Knights let Memphis get up by nine early in the second half, but strong play by Clanton tied the game up at 38 with 15 minutes remaining in the game.
Poor defensive play by the Knights allowed the Tigers to go on a 12-2 run following the tie, the Knights were not able to get back in the game after that.
Memphis was highlighted by the play of Chris Crawford, who game off the bench to drill 4-5 from the 3-point line. Crawford finished with 19 total points.
The Knights end their season with a pair of road games against UAB and Southern Miss starting next Wednesday.
