NCAA BASKETBALL ::: Central Florida shakes off Pirates [bk-021812]

Central Florida had a 10-0 run early in the second half to transform a 35-35 tie into a comfortable working margin and went on to defeat Conference USA opponent East Carolina 64-55 Saturday night in Orlando.

Keith Clanton scored 16 points and Marcus Jordan and A.J. Rompza each had 10 as the Golden Knights (19-7, 8-4 C-USA) completed a season sweep of the Pirates ((12-13, 3-9)). UCF handily handily won the teams' Jan. 7 matchup in Greenville 81-63.

Senior forward Darrius Morrow score 15 points and junior guard Miguel Paul added 10 points and a game-high eight assists for East Carolina.

UCF led at the half 33-25, but the Pirates started the second frame with a 10-2 surge capped by a 3-pointer by Shamarr Bowden to knot the score before the Knights responded with their own decisive run.

UCF outrebounded the Pirates 39-30 and also established supremacy in field goal accuracy. The Knights hit 50 percent of their field goal attempts while ECU converted only 38.3 percent.

The Pirates must now regroup for one of their stiffest challenges of the season, a nationally-televised Wednesday night matchup at Memphis (8 p.m., CBSCS). The perennial league powerhouse Tigers (19-8, 9-3) are tied for the conference lead with Southern Mississippi after being upset by Texas-El Paso 60-58 on Saturday at the FedEx Forum.

BOX SCORE

CENTRAL FLORIDA 64, EAST CAROLINA 55

Date: Saturday, Feb. 18, 2012
Place: UCF Arena, Orlando, FL
Attendance: 7,025
Records: ECU 12-13 (3-9 Conference USA); UCF 19-7 (8-4)

SCORE BY PERIODS     1   2  FINAL
East Carolina       25 30 - 55
Central Florida     33 31 - 64

EAST CAROLINA PIRATES
# PLAYER                    FG   3PT    FT R PTS MIN
.........................    ..   ...    .. . ... ...
01 Morrow, Darrius..... f 7-11   0-0   1-4 5 15 31
12 Sampson, Robert..... f   4-6   0-1   2-2 5 10 25
23 Straughn, Erin...... f   0-5   0-2   0-0 7   0 22
00 Paul, Miguel........ g   4-9   1-5   1-2 4 10 33
20 Bowden, Shamarr..... g 2-11 2-11   0-0 3   6 32
02 Kemp, Maurice.........   4-9   0-1   0-0 5   8 22
11 Gaines, Corvonn.......   2-5   1-2   1-2 0   6 24
22 CAMPBELL, Paris.......   0-3   0-2   0-0 0   0 10
35 Morales, Darius.......   0-1   0-0   0-0 0   0   1
TEAM.....................                    1
TOTALS................... 23-60 4-24 5-10 30 55 200
PERCENT.................. 38.3 16.7 50.0

CENTRAL FLORIDA GOLDEN KNIGHTS
# PLAYER                    FG   3PT    FT R PTS MIN
.........................    ..   ...    .. . ... ...
32 Sykes, Isaiah....... f 4-10   0-1   1-6 6   9 38
33 Clanton, Keith...... f 7-12   0-2   2-4 7 16 30
24 Crittle, Josh....... c   3-6   0-0   0-0 5   6 20
03 Rompza, A.J......... g   3-7   2-6   3-5 5 11 35
05 Jordan, Marcus...... g   2-3   1-1   5-5 1 10 37
01 Spurlock, Tristan.....   1-5   1-5   0-0 5   3 23
21 Gaynor, P.J...........   0-0   0-0   0-0 3   0   5
22 Wilson, Kasey.........   3-3   1-1   2-2 6   9 12
TEAM.....................                    1
TOTALS................... 23-46 5-16 13-22 39 64 200
PERCENT.................. 50.0 31.3 59.1

Fouled out: Darrius Morrow, Josh Crittle
Technical Fouls: Corvonn Gaines, Josh Crittle
Officials: Tim Gattis, Ted Hillary, Kevin Mathis