ORLANDO - The UCF Men's Basketball team extended its win streak to four games on Tuesday night with a 79-66 victory over visiting Green Bay at Addition Financial Arena.
"We beat a good basketball team," UCF head coach Johnny Dawkins said after the game. "You can see why they're a proud program. I've never seen those players take off any possession. They're always fighting and that's why they've been in almost every game they've played."
In the first half UCF had to overcome the fact that leading scorer Collin Smith only played nine minutes due to foul trouble.
With Smith on the bench, Ceasar DeJesus, Darin Green Jr. and Frank Bertz all stepped up. Bertz, in fact, scored all 11 of his points in the 11 and a half minutes of action he saw in the first frame.
Bertz went 4-of-6 from the field, 3-of-5 from long distance, had three assists, one blocked shot and one steal in the game.
"Frank is our little Energizer Bunny," Smith said. "We put him in and he starts going crazy and it hypes us up whether we're on the bench or in the game. He's one of the x-factors that we have, we love to have him."
The Knights (7-2) held the Phoenix (3-7) to 32.4 percent shooting from the field in the first half and 20 percent from 3-point range to get out to a 38-26 lead at the break.
However, that all changed in the second half, as Green Bay freshman guard Amari Davis scored 21 of his game-high 25 points in the second half leading to 75.0 percent shooting from the field for Green Bay in the final 20 minutes.
"Seventy-five percent...15-for-20 [from the field]," Dawkins said. "That's the only thing I'm thinking about right now. You can pretty much guess what I'm going to emphasize (in practice this week)."
UCF used a balanced offense to overcome its second-half defensive struggles. For the second straight game the Knights had five players in double figures. Smith and DeJesus led the way with 14 points each, while Bertz added 11, and Green and Dre Fuller Jr. chipped in with 10 apiece.
Before Saturday's win over NJIT, when all five starters scored in double figures, the last time the Knights accomplished such a feat was Feb. 24 of last season against SMU. On Tuesday they did it for the second time in four days.
The Knights had one of their best games from three point range Tuesday night, besting their previous season high for 3-point percentage, 40.0 percent against Pepperdine, by shooting at a 41.7 percent clip in Tuesday's win over Green Bay. The 10 made threes also tied a season high.
The Knights will return to Addition Financial Arena for their third of four straight home games on Sunday against Sacred Heart. Tipoff against the Pioneers is set for 2 p.m. with coverage on ESPN3 and FM 96.9 The Game.
