Written by Adrian Beecher
Orlando, FL- Despite a 22-point performance from BJ Taylor and Tacko Fall’s 9th double-double of the season, UCF Fell to the SMU Mustangs 65-60 in a hard fought battle at CFE Arena. Leading the way for SMU was Shake Milton and Ben Moore, who combined for 33 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists in the win. Here’s how it all went down.
Tacko Fall got things started for the Knights with a slam-dunk that caused his goggles to lose their lenses. Despite the excitement, it didn’t take long for SMU to start rolling as Ben Moore and Shake Milton got things going for the Mustangs with two quick baskets to give them a 4-2 lead on UCF.
However, then the UCF 3 point show started. Tank Efianayai hit the first, and then Matt Williams followed it up with another triple from the same area from the top right of the three-point line. This made it 8-6 UCF with 15:29 left in the 1st half. After the under 16 minute timeout, the Mustangs got a quick basket, and then Matt William drilled two more triples to make it 14-10.
After Williams had hit his 4th triple of the night, Tacko Fall followed that up with two back-to-back blocks on the ensuing possession as UCF led 19-14 with 10:02 left in the 1st half. Then things started to turn in favor of the Mustangs as they went on a 9-0 run over the next 3 and a half minutes to take a 23-19 lead on UCF. They would extend it to an 11-0 run before the Knights would add two free throws from Williams to stop the run.
Taylor would add two free throws for the Knights to cut it to a 2-point game with 4:43 left to play in the half. Then the Mustangs flexed their will down the stretch, going on a 10-3 run to take a 35-26 lead into the locker room.
Halfway through it was Semi Ojeleye leading the way for SMU with 11 points and 4 rebounds. For UCF it was Matt Williams with 14 points. However, all of those 14 points came in the first 10 minutes of the game. SMU was also dominating on the boards with 21 to UCF’s 14 and 8 of the Mustangs first-half rebounds were offensive.
The Mustangs continued where there left off in the first half, getting the first basket of the 2nd half with a dunk from Ben Moore. The Knights followed that up with a dunk of their own as Tacko Fall slammed it in to make it 37-28. Then both teams traded triples as BJ Taylor got in on the action for the Knights from behind the arc.
Taylor then added a layup which he was fouled on and was able to connect on the and 1 to make it just a 6 point game with 17:02 left in the half. Shortly after, UCF was able to cut the deficit to just 4 points as Fall connected on a layup and Taylor hit a jumper to make it 42-38 with the Mustangs still out in front with 14:53 left in the half.
After that, it was once again the Mustangs pulling away from the Knights as Sterling Brown hit a triple and Moore added a layup to once again extend their lead to 9 with 13:58 left in regulation. With BJ Taylor leading the way for the Knights, they were able to cut it to just a 5 point deficit with 9:48 left in the 2nd half as Taylor hit a layup and connected on the and 1 from the foul.
Then things started to tighten up even more as Shake Milton hit a triple or SMU and Taylor followed suit for the Knights immediately to keep it a 5-point game with 9:11 left to play. Then Milton added another triple for the Mustangs as they extended their lead back to 8. Shortly after, Efianayi put in a layup to cut it to 6 points for UCF and then quickly Tacko Fall added his 8th rebound and a dunk to cut it to just a 4 point game with under 5 minutes to play.
Down the stretch, things would get very interesting, with neither teams wanting to concede. After Shake Milton had hit a jumper with 4:12 left to play to make it a 6-point game, the next two minutes saw just one basket as Ben Moore would get a layup for SMU and the Knights continued to struggle to get anything going. Then with 1:29 left on the clock, BJ Taylor hit a deep two to make it a 6-point game.
After a failed possession from SMU, Knight got the rebound and quickly moved down the court as BJ Taylor went inside and hit a fade away jumper to make it just a 4 point game with 48 seconds left to play. Then Shake Milton hit both of his free throws before BJ Taylor threw an alley-oop to Tacko Fall who slammed it home for the Knights to once again make it a 4-point game.
SMU would then connect on their 2 free throw and BJ Taylor would answer with a quick layup to make it a 4 point game once again with 21 seconds left on the clock. Milton would only hit one of two free throws on his next trip. This made it 65-60 as the Knights quickly moved up the court and BJ Taylor would miss his layup attempt, giving the ball back to SMU with 3 seconds left. Fall would attempt to foul, but the refs wouldn’t call it, and the final buzzer sounded sealing the 5-point loss for UCF.
The Knights would end the game with 15 turnovers to just 7 from SMU. Matt Williams would finish the night 0-6 after starting 4 of 6, scoring 14 points in the first 10 minutes of the game.
The Knights drop to 14-6 on the season as they look ahead to a 2 game road trip starting with Tulsa on the 28th and then a trip to Houston on February 1st before coming back to CFE Arena for a meeting with Memphis on February 4th.
Tacko Fall got things started for the Knights with a slam-dunk that caused his goggles to lose their lenses. Despite the excitement, it didn’t take long for SMU to start rolling as Ben Moore and Shake Milton got things going for the Mustangs with two quick baskets to give them a 4-2 lead on UCF.
However, then the UCF 3 point show started. Tank Efianayai hit the first, and then Matt Williams followed it up with another triple from the same area from the top right of the three-point line. This made it 8-6 UCF with 15:29 left in the 1st half. After the under 16 minute timeout, the Mustangs got a quick basket, and then Matt William drilled two more triples to make it 14-10.
After Williams had hit his 4th triple of the night, Tacko Fall followed that up with two back-to-back blocks on the ensuing possession as UCF led 19-14 with 10:02 left in the 1st half. Then things started to turn in favor of the Mustangs as they went on a 9-0 run over the next 3 and a half minutes to take a 23-19 lead on UCF. They would extend it to an 11-0 run before the Knights would add two free throws from Williams to stop the run.
Taylor would add two free throws for the Knights to cut it to a 2-point game with 4:43 left to play in the half. Then the Mustangs flexed their will down the stretch, going on a 10-3 run to take a 35-26 lead into the locker room.
Halfway through it was Semi Ojeleye leading the way for SMU with 11 points and 4 rebounds. For UCF it was Matt Williams with 14 points. However, all of those 14 points came in the first 10 minutes of the game. SMU was also dominating on the boards with 21 to UCF’s 14 and 8 of the Mustangs first-half rebounds were offensive.
The Mustangs continued where there left off in the first half, getting the first basket of the 2nd half with a dunk from Ben Moore. The Knights followed that up with a dunk of their own as Tacko Fall slammed it in to make it 37-28. Then both teams traded triples as BJ Taylor got in on the action for the Knights from behind the arc.
Taylor then added a layup which he was fouled on and was able to connect on the and 1 to make it just a 6 point game with 17:02 left in the half. Shortly after, UCF was able to cut the deficit to just 4 points as Fall connected on a layup and Taylor hit a jumper to make it 42-38 with the Mustangs still out in front with 14:53 left in the half.
After that, it was once again the Mustangs pulling away from the Knights as Sterling Brown hit a triple and Moore added a layup to once again extend their lead to 9 with 13:58 left in regulation. With BJ Taylor leading the way for the Knights, they were able to cut it to just a 5 point deficit with 9:48 left in the 2nd half as Taylor hit a layup and connected on the and 1 from the foul.
Then things started to tighten up even more as Shake Milton hit a triple or SMU and Taylor followed suit for the Knights immediately to keep it a 5-point game with 9:11 left to play. Then Milton added another triple for the Mustangs as they extended their lead back to 8. Shortly after, Efianayi put in a layup to cut it to 6 points for UCF and then quickly Tacko Fall added his 8th rebound and a dunk to cut it to just a 4 point game with under 5 minutes to play.
Down the stretch, things would get very interesting, with neither teams wanting to concede. After Shake Milton had hit a jumper with 4:12 left to play to make it a 6-point game, the next two minutes saw just one basket as Ben Moore would get a layup for SMU and the Knights continued to struggle to get anything going. Then with 1:29 left on the clock, BJ Taylor hit a deep two to make it a 6-point game.
After a failed possession from SMU, Knight got the rebound and quickly moved down the court as BJ Taylor went inside and hit a fade away jumper to make it just a 4 point game with 48 seconds left to play. Then Shake Milton hit both of his free throws before BJ Taylor threw an alley-oop to Tacko Fall who slammed it home for the Knights to once again make it a 4-point game.
SMU would then connect on their 2 free throw and BJ Taylor would answer with a quick layup to make it a 4 point game once again with 21 seconds left on the clock. Milton would only hit one of two free throws on his next trip. This made it 65-60 as the Knights quickly moved up the court and BJ Taylor would miss his layup attempt, giving the ball back to SMU with 3 seconds left. Fall would attempt to foul, but the refs wouldn’t call it, and the final buzzer sounded sealing the 5-point loss for UCF.
The Knights would end the game with 15 turnovers to just 7 from SMU. Matt Williams would finish the night 0-6 after starting 4 of 6, scoring 14 points in the first 10 minutes of the game.
The Knights drop to 14-6 on the season as they look ahead to a 2 game road trip starting with Tulsa on the 28th and then a trip to Houston on February 1st before coming back to CFE Arena for a meeting with Memphis on February 4th.