Written by Francisco Vera.
The UCF Knights traveled to the Ocean Center in Daytona Beach and handed Pitt their second loss of the season in a 77-67 win.
The Legends Classic started as an offensive showdown between the Knights and the Panthers, with both sides trading baskets early. At the first media timeout, UCF had a 3-point lead.
Buckets then decreased from both ends as each team stepped up on defense, forcing turnovers and missed buckets. Halfway through the first half, the Knights were up by 1, but no team was able to begin building noticeable momentum.
With about three minutes to go, it appeared that Pitt had begun to stack up points, reaching a then-game-high 5-point lead. UCF would reclaim those points and the lead to finish the first half. The score at halftime was 38-36 in favor of the Knights.
As the second half started, UCF would shift the game in their favor, jumping to a 7-point lead early in the second half. Pitt would call their first timeout of the half to draw up ways to jump out of this deficit.
After the timeout, the Knights would begin to position themselves in the driver’s seat and effectively capitalize on the Panthers’ mistakes. Halfway through the second half, the Knights led by 10, but Pitt would continue to show some fight.
The Panthers would make some plays on defense and score some buckets, and would slowly claw away at UCF’s 15-point lead, cutting it to 8 by the 4-minute media timeout. Their efforts would not be enough, as the Knights would find themselves at the right place at the right time, effectively icing the game.
The final score from Ocean Center in Daytona Beach was 77-67 in favor of the Knights as they improve to 5-1.
UCF’s Themus Fulks led both teams in scoring with 18 points. Cameron Corhen led the Pitt Panthers in scoring with 17.
The Knights look to continue their win streak and improve to 6-1 next week on Tuesday, as they return to Addition Financial Arena and face Quinnipiac at 7 p.m.
