• Final stats

ORLANDO, Fla. – One game down, three more to go for the UCF Knights.

After a close contest through most of the game, the hometown team blew the game open late, running away with a 66-52 win over East Carolina University at Amway Center Thursday night.

Redshirt junior B.J. Taylor led the Knights (19-12) in scoring with 17 points, setting the pace for his team offensively. The guard also led the team in assists with four.

“Yeah, it definitely felt good. As Coach said, it was a great team victory,” Taylor said after the game. “They’re a team and a school with a lot of pride, and, like Coach said, we knew they were going to come out and compete the entire game. So, we’re just happy to get the win tonight and get ready to play tomorrow.”

Despite struggling from the field, redshirt senior A.J. Davis finished second in scoring for UCF with 14 points on 4-for-11 shooting. Taylor and Davis finished the game as the only Knights in double figures.

UCF started the game taking most of their shots from deep, shooting 3-for-7 from 3-point range in the first nine minutes and 7-for-11 in the first half. The Knights supported that on the other end by getting stops, forcing three turnovers through the first five minutes and seven turnovers in the first half.

Foul trouble for East Carolina became an issue early on, getting UCF in the bonus only six minutes into the game. The Knights went to the line for 16 attempts but were able to come away with just nine points, shooting 56 percent (9-for-16) from the line in the first half.

Thanks to their efforts on both ends of the court, UCF led 36-25 at the half.

The second half started with ECU starting to find more of a rhythm on the offensive end and UCF finding itself unable to score. An 8-0 run over a two-minute span cut the Knights’ lead to six with just over 12 minutes to play.

UCF continued to struggle down the stretch, going on a 10-minute run without a field goal. However, they continued to be aggressive in getting to the basket, earning multiple trips to the free-throw line. The Knights were able to keep the Pirates at bay, increasing their lead to 11 with just over six minutes to go and maintaining a double-digit lead the rest of the way.

UCF’s defense was the catalyst for the controlling lead, as four steals in about a minute and a half led to the Knights’ 11-point lead. From there the team wouldn’t look back, keeping up their defensive intensity and forcing ECU into 20 turnovers for the game.

“I thought it was a great defensive effort. We knew coming into this game we were going to have to defend well,” Knights head coach Johnny Dawkins said after the game. “We hadn’t played them since the beginning of the year, but I had seen them on tape enough to know they were scoring the basketball well…

“So we knew the only way that we have been able to be successful is by hanging our hat on the defensive end, and I thought our guys gave us a really good effort tonight.”

Who’s Next?

The Knights continue their run in the AAC tournament Friday night at 9 p.m., as they take on the No. 3-seeded University of Houston. The Cougars rank 21st in both the Associated Press Top 25 and the USA TODAY Coaches Poll.

A win in the quarterfinals would put the Knights into the semifinals against either No. 2-seeded Wichita State University or 10 seed Temple University.

For more on the Knights, as they play their seventh ranked game of the season, follow Austin David on Twitter at @AustinDavid22.