National Basketball Association
East Carolina 81, Central Florida 80
When: 3:30 PM ET, Thursday, March 12, 2015
Where: XL Center, Hartford, Connecticut
Officials:
# Jose Carrion, # Rick Crawford, # Raymond Naitili
Attendance:
N/A
By SportsDirect Inc.
East Carolina 81, UCF 80 (OT): Freshman B.J. Tyson had 19 points off the bench to lead the eighth-seeded Pirates past the ninth-seeded Knights in the opening round of the American Athletic Conference tournament in Hartford, Conn.
Marshall Guilmette added a career-high 18 points for East Carolina (14-18), which will play top-seeded SMU in Friday's quarterfinals. Michel-Ofik Nzege added 13 points and seven rebounds, and Caleb White also had 13 points for the Pirates.
Freshman B.J. Taylor led UCF (12-18) with 22 points, and Adonys Henriquez added 17 points. Justin McBride added 12 points and 11 rebounds off the bench while Kasey Wilson added 11 points but couldn't get an off-balanced jumper to fall as time expired.
The Pirates hit three straight 3-pointers during a 19-4 run and led 32-15 with five minutes left in the first half before Henriquez and Taylor hit back-to-back 3s to help UCF pull within 38-30 by halftime. Paris Roberts-Campbell and White hit consecutive 3s to push the Pirates' lead to 56-46 with less than 12 minutes left, but UCF rallied again, getting within two on a 12-4 run capped by back-to-back 3s from Henriquez and Taylor with 8:43 left.
The Knights finished regulation on an 8-1 run, tying it on Wilson's putback with 4.7 seconds and they scored first in overtime. East Carolina had a pair of extended possessions but failed to score, and UCF forced a turnover with 15 seconds left but Wilson's long jumper was the best option as time ran out.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Tyson became the fourth East Carolina freshman to score 400 points during his rookie season. ... The teams entered the game tied for second in the league at 6.7 made 3-pointers and each hit nine Thursday. ... Brandon Goodwin finished with 10 points, nine rebounds and seven assists for UCF.
Top Game Performances
| Central Florida |
|
East Carolina |
|
B.J. Taylor 22 |
Scoring |
B.J. Tyson 19 |
|
Brandon Goodwin 7 |
Assists |
Lance Tejada 8 |
|
Justin McBride 11 |
Rebounds |
Michel-Ofik Nzege 7 |
|
B.J. Taylor 3 |
Free Throws Made |
B.J. Tyson 5 |
|
Brandon Goodwin 1 |
Steals |
Lance Tejada 6 |
|
Staphon Blair 2 |
Blocks |
Paris Roberts-Campbell 1 |
Team Stats Summary
| Team |
Points |
FG% |
3PM-3PA |
FTM-FTA |
Assists |
Rebounds |
Blocks |
Steals |
Turnovers |
| Central Florida
|
80 |
49.2 |
9-22 |
7-12 |
19 |
36 |
5 |
3 |
12 |
| East Carolina
|
81 |
45.6 |
9-25 |
10-16 |
18 |
31 |
3 |
10 |
8 |
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