ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFKnights.com) – Coming into UCF's game against Miami (Ohio) sophomore Tacko Fall had been impressing the masses throughout the early part of 2016-17, scoring 14.0 points per game on a nation-leading field goal percentage of 81.6. On Sunday he may have had his best performance yet.
Fall scored a career high 31 points on 11-of-12 shooting from the field to lead the Knights (8-3) past the Redhawks 80-73 in overtime.
More impressively, the 7-foot-6 center, who came into Sunday shooting just 35.6 percent from the free throw line on the season, knocked down 9-of-12 from the charity stripe to help secure the victory. Fall added 10 rebounds for his sixth double-double of the season.
"I thought Tacko was terrific. I mean he was terrific," UCF head coach Johnny Dawkins said after the game. "I thought defensively he had a presence and offensively he really anchored us well. He's just getting better. I mean he's getting better right before all of our eyes."
"I felt great," Fall said. "The guys were feeding me the ball. We were playing together. We were playing good basketball."
But when the Redhawks (5-6) forced overtime with a leaner in the lane by Rod Mills with just 36 second left in regulation, it was the rest of the Knights who picked up the slack offensively to earn UCF its eight win of the season.
Senior Matt Williams scored seven of his 15 points during the extra five minutes, while seniors Tank Efianayi and Nick Banyard, and sophomore Chad Brown all hit free throws down the stretch to hold of Miami.
"This is a win we had to earn," Dawkins said. "I thought going into overtime with this group, having to bounce back off of back-to-back losses, I think our guys showed a lot of character."
UCF, which led for all but 1:43 of the game, came out focused and energized. The Knights sprinted out to a 25-12 lead when Fall followed up a Williams three-pointer with a layup with 9:12 to play in the first half.
A 20-6 run by the Redhawks gave Miami its first lead of the game, at 32-31, with 3:45 to play in the first half. The Knights countered with a jumper by Efianayi and outscored the Redhawks 9-2 over the final three minutes to take a 40-34 lead into halftime.
"We were focused at the beginning, and that's why we broke out to that big lead," Efianayi said. "Then we started to not defend as well, and they started to cut into the lead, and take the lead. Coach told us that we were either going to lock in and defend or lose this game. So it started on defense."
KNIGHT NOTES
- Fall added two blocked shots in the game, which moved him into a tie for fifth place in the UCF record books for career blocks.
- Williams scored 15 points and had 10 rebounds for his second career double-double. His three makes from beyond the arc moved him into fourth place all-time at UCF with 191 three-pointers.
- Efianayi scored 14 points and had nine rebounds, marking his seventh double figures scoring game of the year.
- The Knights held Miami (Ohio) to 38.5 percent shooting from the floor, the ninth time they've held their opponent under 40 percent this season.
COMING UP NEXT
UCF will return to action on Wednesday when they host Bethune-Cookman at CFE Arena. Tip-off between the Knights and the Wildcats is scheduled for 7 p.m. on ESPN3 and FM 96.9 The Game.
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