MORGANTOWN, WV — A mountain of a 27-point deficit faced the UCF men’s basketball team as the first half wound down. As daunting as the hike seemed, the Knights showed relentless fight in the second half, scaling the proverbial mountain side in the Mountain State, pulling within three in the final moments of Saturday’s contest against West Virginia. Despite a mad dash to try and tie Division I’s biggest comeback of the season, the Knights fell short with a 72-65 result to round out the regular season.
“You can go one of two ways [when you’re down big at the half], you can fold or you can keep fighting,” said Head Coach Johnny Dawkins. “Our guys keep fighting. We talked about adjustments, but the main adjustment we had to make was to come out with the mindset that it was a 20-minute game and we had to fight on every possession. I thought our guys tried to do that.”
A slow start by both teams saw the hosts leading 9-5 exactly four minutes in.
But the Mountaineers were able to build their lead on second chance points and threes, holding a 10-0 edge in second chance tallies and sinking seven threes. The deficit was 47-25 at the break, tying the fewest amount of points scored by the Knights in the first half this season.
West Virginia buried a triple to start the second half before the Knights pieced together a 7-0 run thanks to a three from Moustapha Thiam and layups from Dallan ‘Deebo’ Coleman and Keyshawn Hall, making it 50-32 just over two minutes into the frame. UCF added two more points to the run before West Virginia cashing in on a three with 16:08 to play, putting the Mountaineers back in front 53-34.
The Knights continued to chip away and when Darius Johnson swished in a high-arcing three, his fourth of the contest, to cut the deficit to 10, 62-52, with 6:17 remaining. Two free throws for West Virginia were answered with a quick Thiam triple, bringing the game back within single digits. JJ Taylor piled on another three, pulling UCF within six with the score reading 64-58.
The Knights later turned the Mountaineers over for the 13th time of the second half, getting the ball back with 2:18 to go, and Johnson made a drive into the lane and converted a one-handed finish at the rim, pulling the Black and Gold within one possession at 67-64.
UCF had a chance to get closer when West Virginia missed a free throw, but the hosts were able to claim the rebound and converted their 12th three pointer of the contest to go up by six and the Knights would not get closer than four the rest of the way.
Johnson finished the contest with 27 points, his fourth straight 20+ point showing. He also recorded seven steals on the night, tying a career best. Thiam (13) and Taylor (12) were also in double figures.
Up Next:
UCF was the 14-seed at the Big 12 Conference Championship and played No. 11 Utah Tuesday night in Kansas City, Missouri, in the T-Mobile Center. The tournament will continue through Saturday.
Here is the box score:
West Virginia 72, UCF 65
UCF (16-15, 7-13)
Darius Johnson 10-21 3-5 27, Moustapha Thiam 5-8 1-2 13, Keyshawn Hall 1-10 4-6 6, Nils Machowski 1-4 0-0 2, Tyler Hendricks 0-1 0-0 0, JJ Taylor 4-5 2-2 12, Dallan "Deebo" Coleman 1-5 1-2 3, Benny Williams 1-4 0-0 2, Dior Johnson 0-1 0-0 0. Totals _ 23-59 11-17 65.
West Virginia (19-12, 10-10)
Javon Small 7-23 6-6 25, Amani Hansberry 8-13 0-1 18, Jonathan Powell 5-9 0-2 15, Toby Okani 4-7 0-1 8, Sencire Harris 1-3 0-0 2, Joseph Yesufu 1-7 0-0 2, KJ Tenner 1-3 0-0 2, Eduardo Andre 0-1 0-0 0. Totals _ 27-66 6-10 72.
Halftime _ West Virginia 47, UCF 25. 3-point field goals _ UCF 8-25 (Da. Johnson 4-11, Thiam 2-5, Taylor 2-2, Machowski 0-2, Hall 0-2, Coleman 0-2, Williams 0-1); West Virginia 12-37 (Small 5-15, Powell 5-8, Hansberry 2-6, Yesufu 0-4, Okani 0-1, Harris 0-1). Team fouls _ UCF 14; West Virginia 17. Fouled out _ West Virginia (Harris). Technical fouls _ West Virginia (Harris). Rebounds _ UCF 39 (Coleman 10, Hall 8, Thiam 7, Da. Johnson 5); West Virginia 44 (Hansberry 10, Okani 8, Small 7, Harris 5). Turnovers _ UCF 17; West Virginia 16. Assists _ UCF 9 (Da. Johnson 3, Machowski, Coleman 2 each); West Virginia 17 (Small 9, Andre 3, Hansberry 2). Steals _ UCF 11 (Da. Johnson 7, Machowski 3); West Virginia 6 (Small, Harris 2 each). Blocked shots _ UCF 4 (Hall 2); West Virginia 5 (Okani 3).
