Following a solid road win against SMU Saturday, the UCF Men’s Basketball team (18-6, 7-3 C-USA) exacted their revenge against Marshall (14-10, 5-5 C-USA) with a 67-60 victory Wednesday night at the UCF Arena to avenge a heartbreaking loss in Huntington back on Jan. 14.
Keith Clanton came up big for UCF, posting 20 points to lead all scorers, as well as seven rebounds and three assists.
Much was made about this matchup prior to the start, including the student section’s choking act during the pre-game announcements to the heat being turned up because of complaints by Marshall head coach Tom Herrion during last season’s matchup.
The Knights came out hot in the first half, but the contest quickly evened as the Knights failed to hit open jump shots and provide themselves with opportunities due to rushed possessions and poor shot selection.
Marshall took the lead back at the 2:05 mark after Shaq Johnson hit a pair of free throws.
UCF shot a porous 12-of-32 from the field in the first half, and Marcus Jordan especially struggled, looking more for his own offense than that of his teammates. Marshall ended the half on a 10-4 run, dominating the last five minutes.
The second half saw a resurgence for the Knights with Isaiah Sykes rebounding, sparking a 12-2 in the first four minutes of play. Tristan Spurlock was a big spark off the bench, adding 13 points and six rebounds.
“We lost the game on the free throw block tonight and crucial turnovers leading to easy scoring opportunities,” said Marshall head coach Tom Herrion.
Similar to their game at SMU, a key member of the Knights starting five picked up four fouls in crunch time. Keith Clanton was forced to sit for a few key minutes down the stretch. Marshall came out firing in the last four minutes, and the Knights failed to make their free throws, being bailed out by Spurlock and Sykes superb offensive rebounding.
“We put on the board this is one of the best rebounding teams in the country, they’ve only been out rebounded three times this season and tonight was four. I wrote it on the board- the three most important keys to the game were rebounding, rebounding and rebounding,” said Donnie Jones.
The Thundering Heard went four-of-four from three and cut the lead to two with 30 seconds left. After a tie up, Jordan hit a three in the corner to take a 65-60 lead, sucking the momentum out of Marshall. Jordan finished with 15 points.
“It’s only natural for me to want that shot with the clock winding down. I think I’ve been there a couple of times at the end of games making clutch plays. That’s what I tried to do and it went in,” said Jordan.
Sykes capped off the victory with an emphatic dunk, adding another double double with 15 points and 10 rebounds. To add to the sweet vindication for Knights fans, DeAndre Kane of Marshall, the player who hit the two free throws to seal the victory for the Thundering Herd in the first game, air balled a free throw at the eight-minute mark and missed two more technical foul shots.
With this win, the Knights move to 7-3 in conference and 18-6 overall. Keith Clanton also moved into fourth place all-time on the Knights rebounding leaders list.
The Knights return to action against Southern Miss in Hattiesburg to face an undefeated first place Golden Eagles squad at home this season.
