DALLAS (UCFKnights.com) - The UCF men's basketball team opened up its American Athletic Conference slate with a defensive battle on the road at SMU. Despite holding the potent Mustang offense to 20 points below their season average, the Knights fell 56-51.
"I thought the turnovers really hurt us," head coach Johnny Dawkins said. "We didn't really value the ball tonight. I thought we gave up too many timely offensive rebounds. Those two areas really hurt us."
The Knights (9-4, 0-1) outrebounded SMU (11-3, 1-0) by four and forced 15 turnovers, but 19 UCF turnovers, 5-of-12 shooting from behind the arc and eight missed free throws thwarted any attempt to snap SMU's 32-game home winning streak.
After the Black and Gold started the game with a 6-2 run, including four points from Tacko Fall, SMU sprang a 12-0 run midway through the first half, and eventually took an 11-point lead late in the period.
With two minutes to play Dayon Griffin drilled back-to-back 3-pointers from well beyond the arc to shave the deficit to five at the break.
The run continued for the Black and Gold with eight straight points out of the intermission to cap the 14-2 run. A.J. Davis scored on consecutive possessions, before Cesar DeJesus put the Knights ahead with a corner three.
The Mustangs responded with 13-2 run of their own to retake a 10-point advantage.
Down the stretch, Terrell Allen connected from deep, and Chad Brown had a dunk off a rebound to get the Knights back within six, but Jimmy Whitt and Shake Milton hit on back-to-back possessions to extend the SMU lead. Davis and Griffin combined for seven points in the final minute, but it was too little too late.
NOTABLES
* Griffin and Davis led the Knights in scoring with 12 apiece.
* Griffin matched his season high with a trio of three-pointers.
* DeJesus finished with nine points.
* Davis and Chad Brown each snagged seven boards.
UP NEXT
The Knights will close out 2017 on New Year's Eve at ECU at 4 p.m.
SEASON TICKETS
Season tickets for the 2017-18 campaign are on sale now. Fans looking to purchase tickets can call (407) 823-1000 or visit UCFKnights.com to secure them today. For men's basketball tickets CLICK HERE.
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