Feb. 15, 2006
ORLANDO - Despite having four players finish with double-digits in scoring, the UCF men's basketball team dropped a 78-71 Conference USA contest on Wednesday evening to Houston at Torchy Clark Court at UCF Arena. Senior forward Anthony Williams recorded a double-double with 15 points and a game-high 11 rebounds for the Golden Knights (10-12, 4-5 C-USA).
Houston (17-6, 7-3) connected on 12 three-pointers as it claimed its seventh-consecutive win. Lanny Smith hit four triples and paced the Cougars with 25 points and nine assists.
The Cougars canned nine treys in the opening period and led 37-29 at halftime. Houston led by as many as 15 points in the second half and took a 64-49 edge on a pair of Chris Lawson free throws with 6:45 remaining in the contest.
UCF got within five points with 40 seconds to play in the game after a layup by sophomore guard Dave Noel, but could get closer as Sam Anderson made four foul shots for Houston down the stretch.
"They (Houston) are pretty good shooters," said UCF head coach Kirk Speraw. "They have a lot of firepower and really challenge your defense. We did not close out on shooters as well as we needed to in the first half."
UCF hit only seven field goals in the first half, but made 14 foul shots in the period. The Golden Knights finished the game 23-of-24 (67.6 percent) at the line.
Junior forward Josh Peppers totaled 17 points in the losing effort. Peppers, who was coming off of the bench for the second-straight game, helped the Golden Knight reserves total a season-best 47 points.
In 25 minutes off of the bench, freshman guard Jermaine Taylor had a career-high 16 points to go with six rebounds and three steals. Noel finished with 10 points.
UCF grabbed 19 offensive rebounds and had a 41-35 overall edge on the glass. The squad shot 38.6 percent overall. Each team recorded 19 turnovers.
The teams met for the first time on Jan. 14 in Houston and the Golden Knights claimed their first C-USA win with a 66-56 victory.
Oliver Lafayette scored 15 points and had four steals for Houston. Jahmar Thorpe (12 points) and Ramon Dyer (11 points) rounded out the Cougars with double figures in scoring.
Houston shot 44.6 percent overall and 48 percent from three-point range.
UCF returns to the hardwood on Saturday, facing SMU in Dallas at 8 p.m. Eastern.