Feb. 26, 2005
BUIES CREEK, N.C. - Senior Gary Johnson was 4-for-4 from behind-the-arc on his way to 14 points to lift the UCF men's basketball team past host Campbell, 63-52, at historic Carter Gym on Saturday afternoon in Atlantic Sun action. With the victory, the Golden Knights (21-8, 13-7 A-Sun) clinch a share of the conference regular season crown for the first time.
UCF and Gardner-Webb both finish the regular season at the top of the conference.
Campbell drops its 22nd consecutive contest and falls to 2-25 and 0-20 in the league.
The Golden Knights, who have won nine of their last 10 outings, will now play in the 2005 SunTrust Banks A-Sun Championship in Nashville. Quarterfinal action begins on Thursday, March 3.
UCF led by as many 19 in the second half, but the Camels rallied, getting within seven with 1:47 on the clock on a Maurice Latham layup. Junior Will Bakanowsky hit a three on the Golden Knights next possession to make the score 59-49 and end Campbell's comeback attempt.
All of Johnson's four field goal attempts were from three-point range. He added nine assists and five steals. Junior Josh Peppers played just 16 minutes due to foul trouble, but still finished with 10 points.
The Golden Knights started the second half strong and led 43-26 at the 11:57 mark when senior Kingsley Edwards dunked and was fouled for a traditional three-point play. The UCF edge grew to 18 after junior Justin Rose lobbed a backdoor pass to junior Marcus Johnson for a slam with eight and a half minutes left.
Playing in their final regular season A-Sun game before moving to Conference USA next season, UCF committed 24 turnovers, which led to 29 points for Campbell.
UCF used a 15-4 spurt midway through the first half to separate from the Camels. Johnson nailed two three-pointers during the run, which was capped by a trey by Bakanowsky. Bakanowsky's basket put the visitors ahead, 21-11, with eight minutes remaining in the half.
Johnson made all three of his attempts from deep in the first half as UCF shot 11-of-19 (57.9 percent) overall to open the game.
The Golden Knight edge would eventually grow to 14 with under a minute left and the team led, 32-20, at the break despite committing 11 turnovers in the opening period.
For the game, UCF shot 55.6 percent from the floor and 60 percent from deep. Edwards recorded nine points and four assists.