NASSAU, Bahamas – The UCF men's basketball team topped Santa Clara by a score of 57-50 on Sunday night, winning the Baha Mar Hoops Bahamas Championship. The Knights earned a 60-54 overtime victory over Oklahoma State in the semifinals to reach the final, where they topped the Broncos with a remarkable defensive performance.
The Knights' stellar defense was on full display in the first half, holding the Broncos to a mere 20.83 percent shooting from the field.
The Knights took their first lead at the 10:05 mark and never looked back. They wouldn't trail for the rest of the game.
The Black and Gold went into halftime up by nine.
The second half was led by Taylor Hendricks. Santa Clara cut the UCF lead to four when Hendricks started to take over the game by scoring the next five points.
About halfway through the second half, the Broncos started to gain momentum but threes by Ithiel Horton and Hendricks pushed the lead back to nine.
Freeman would have the dunk that fully shifted the momentum back to the Knights after making a beautiful back door cut, leading to a slam off an assist from CJ Kelly. The next time down the court he hit another jumper.
Hendricks put the cherry on top of the game with a strong dunk with 47 seconds remaining to put the Knights up by 10.
The Knights' defense was the game's story, holding the Broncos to 30.5 percent shooting and forcing 18 turnovers.
They return to Orlando with some in-season hardware as the Baha Mar Hoops Bahamas Championship champions.
