ORLANDO, Fla. – UCF held Southeastern Louisiana to one field goal over the final 9:48 to rally for a 61-53 non-conference win Tuesday night in the CFE Arena.
The loss snapped a three-game road winning streak and a four-game win streak overall for Southeastern (5-4).
Junior guard
Marlain Veal had team highs of seven rebounds and five assists to go with 10 points for the Lions. Senior forward
James Currington also had 10 points while senior forward
Jordan Capps and senior guard
Eddy Polanco had eight each. Southeastern shot 35.8 percent overall.
Tacko Fall led UCF (7-3) with 19 points and 11 rebounds. A.J. Davis contributed 13 points and Terrell Allen 12. The Knights shot 44 percent and out-rebounded the Lions, 36-29.
Southeastern trailed 30-28 at the break but opened the second half on a 10-2 run to take its biggest lead at 38-32 with 16:36 remaining behind consecutive 3s by senior guard
Joshua Filmore.
UCF cut the deficit to 43-42 on a Ceasar DeJesus layup at the 11:52 mark. Senior guard
Jabbar Singleton and Capps responded with 3s as the Lions led 49-46 with 8:19 remaining. Two free throws each by Allen and Fall regained the lead for the Knights at 50-49 with 5:18 left.
A layup by Allen extended the lead to 58-51 with 34 seconds left. Currington hit a jumper from the right corner with 26 seconds left to cut the deficit to five. But Allen added two free throws with 25 seconds remaining and Veal and Polanco missed layups on the ensuing possession.
Fall scored eight points as UCF got out to a 10-5 lead with 16:02 left in the first half. Southeastern countered with an 8-0 run over the next 5:13 with a pair of Polanco 3s giving the Lions their first lead with 11:43 remaining.
Fall scored off a putback to put the Knights back ahead at the 9:31 mark. But Currington pumped in a jumper from the left wing to give Southeastern a 15-14 lead with 9:07 left. UCF used a 10-2 run to take its biggest lead at 24-17 on a DeJesus free throw with 6 minutes left.
Southeastern pulled to within 24-23 with 3:54 left as Singleton hit a fadeaway jumper from the left wing and Veal added a pair of free throws. Singleton drove in from the right side to tie it at 28 with 36 seconds left. But Davis answered with a layup with 13 seconds remaining to give UCF a 30-28 halftime lead.
NOTES:
Filmore, an Orlando native, got his first start of the season in place of Singleton. It was the first time Singleton has not started in his Lions career, ending a streak of 40 straight. It was just the fourth different starting lineup used by Southeastern this season.
Veal, at 5-foot-9, tipped off against the 7-6 Fall, the tallest Division I player in the country.
QUOTES:
Southeastern head coach Jay Ladner:
"We certainly had our opportunities to win. They were a preseason top 25 team with incredible size and we go into their place and I thought after a little bit of rust, which could have been us being off for a couple of weeks, we played really well. We played smart and played really well defensively but the last five minutes, we had one field goal and that ended up being the difference in the game. We had some opportunities and if we make a few of those plays, we go into those last couple of minutes up four, six, eight points and we're in control of the game. But give them credit. They got some stops when they needed to but I was proud of our guys too."
UP NEXT:
Southeastern returns home to play Southern-New Orleans Thursday at 7 p.m. in the University Center. The game will be televised live by the Southeastern Channel and streamed on the Southland Digital Network at
www.Southland.org/live. Cox Sports Television will replay the game on Thursday at 9 p.m. The game can also be heard in the Hammond area on KSLU-FM (90.9), online at
www.LionSports.net/listenlive and via the TuneIn Radio app.
The Southeastern Athletics Ticket Office and Southeastern Student-Athlete Advisory Committee will collect non-perishable food items at the Gate 3 entrance to the University Center. The items will be donated to the Tangi Food Pantry, a non-profit organization that provides nutritious groceries to over 44,000 individuals and families in need.
The Southeastern Athletics Marketing and Promotions will also be hosting Academy Youth Night, All fans 12 and under will receive free admission and $3 tickets will be available for all middle, junior high and high school students that present a local school ID at the Gate 3 ticket booth. Southeastern Athletics will also be giving out SLU paraphernalia courtesy of Academy Sports and Outdoors.
The game is also a Cane's Challenge. If the Lions reach 60 points or more, fans can take their game ticket or student coupon to their local participating Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers to receive a free combo with the purchase of another of equal or greater value.
