Feb. 21, 2008
ORLANDO, Fla. (www.ucfathletics.com) - UCF's starting lineup spent the majority of the second half of the Knights' home win over East Carolina on Wednesday on the bench. For head coach Kirk Speraw, seeing players like senior guard Mike O'Donnell (Largo, Fla./Largo) and junior guard Jermaine Taylor (Tavares, Fla./Tavares) on the bench was a good thing.
UCF shot 61.2 percent overall in recording a 110-75 Conference USA victory over the Pirates at the new UCF Arena. The Knights scored a season-high 60 points after intermission, with the team's reserves accounting for 30 points in the second half.
Senior guard Mike Battle (Waldorf, Md./Southern Maryland Christian) came off of the bench to total a season-best 10 points and fellow senior guard Chip Cartwright (Houston, Texas/Phillis Wheatley) also scored 10 points off of the bench.
Sophomore forward Andre Thornton (Memphis, Tenn./Mitchell) and freshmen guards Cordell Pope (Birmingham, Ala./Parker), Drew Speraw (Oviedo, Fla./Oviedo) and Taylor Young (Orlando, Fla./The First Academy) all saw time on the court in the second half. Thornton registered six points, while Pope and Speraw accounted for five points each. Young dished out four assists in the win.
According to Taylor, he is glad to watch the reserves get their opportunity to play.
"That is always fun to watch," he said. "They work hard in practice getting us ready for these games. It is always fun to sit back and watch them play and see how good they look."
O'Donnell entered the game averaging 34.7 minutes, but played just 23 minutes against the Pirates.
The 110 points scored by UCF were the most for the Knights since 1991. The scoring total was good for fourth on the C-USA single-game register.
The contest marked the second time this year that UCF scored more than 100 points in a league game as the squad recorded 109 against UTEP on Jan. 23.
UCF is 14-11 overall and 7-4 in C-USA play. The Knights are fourth in the league standings heading into their contest at Marshall on Saturday.
For the latest news and information on the Knights, tickets or apparel, log on to www.ucfathletics.com - the official site for UCF varsity sports. Also check out www.ucfphotos.com, the exclusive fan source for UCF action sports pictures.
Notes: The Knights are now averaging 79.0 points in C-USA games. Last season, the squad averaged 69.6 points against conference opponents... In league play, Taylor paces C-USA in scoring at 24.1 points per game. He is averaging 21.8 points on the year... The victory over the Pirates gave UCF its 10th home win in 2007-08. The Knights have now claimed at least 10 home victories in each of the last six campaigns.