UCF Knights in trouble, Winter Park Wildcats claw way into regional final

UCF

It was a rough night in Texas as the Knights met Houston for the first time and fell 82-58 on a slew of late-game turnovers.

But by then the Knights were already having enough trouble under their own basket, with only two players in double digits on the scoreboard and nobody grabbing more than four boards.

On defense, the Knights seemed to have the Cougars under control until late. They held the Cougars to 50 percent shooting overall and only 15.4 percent from outside the three-point line. The Knights’ big men combined on six blocked shots for the night.

The Knights led the game for all of the first 2 minutes of the game before it was taken away by the Cougars on a run that would blow the game open 40-25 by halftime. The Knights’ last seven possessions of the half ended in four missed shots and three turnovers. The second half only got worse, as UCF let the score widen by 24 points by the end, when the Knights’ spent the last 6 seconds missing three shots in a row.

Wednesday night the Knights (11-12, 5-7) were in Memphis at press time. At 2 p.m. Sunday they come home to host Tulsa (16-9, 8-5), starting their final handful of regular season games. They host Houston (18-7, 8-5) at 7 p.m. Wednesday.

Rollins

The Tars are up and down in the last week of basketball as they try to strengthen their record in the run up to the Sunshine State Conference tournament.

The Tars were behind in every category except the one that counted on Feb. 10, when they took out Florida Southern on their home court in Lakeland 88-75, thanks to Sam Philpott’s 19 points.

Saturday night Florida Tech showed up on Rollins’ home court and got revenge for a loss earlier in the year. The Panthers edged the Tars 75-72, but it was nearly the biggest comeback for the Tars all season, after they fell behind by 28 points earlier in the game. Only a few late bounces saved embarrassment for Florida Tech.

In that game Jeff Merton led the way for the Tars with 22 points, followed by Philpott with 18 points.

With the wind taken out of their SSC sails, the Tars (17-7, 9-4) will be looking to tighten up the jib as they travel to face Lynn (10-12, 4-9) at 4 p.m. Saturday. They return home to host St. Leo (15-9, 8-5) at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday in their final regular season conference game.

Winter Park

After narrowly edging Newsome to make it past the first round of the regional playoffs, the Winter Park boys soccer team blasted their way into the state championship game Saturday night. Inside Tom McIntyre Stadium they faced a Boca Raton team that put pressure to the net early, resulting in a goal 5 minutes in.

The Wildcats couldn’t recover, allowing another goal later before falling 2-0. Winter Park goalkeeper Troy Timmons had seven saves in the game.

The boys basketball team just won a berth into the regional championship game, and they get to play host. After a blowout 53-32 win over Apopka to open up regional play last week, the Wildcats hosted Timber Creek Tuesday night, playing to a dramatic 51-50 nail-biter finish from an unlikely sixth man.

John Hodges tossed up a crucial shot late to tie up the game in the final minute, and handled two rebounds that would set up the Malik Foy winning foul shot that sealed it all.

The result is a shot at the regional championship. The Wildcats (19-10) are two years removed from a dramatic 80-78 win in that same game that would propel them toward a state championship they won after back-to-back overtime victories. At 7 p.m. Friday in the Winter Park High School gym they face Seminole (20-9), fresh off a dominating 88-73 win over Oviedo on Tuesday night.

For the lady Wildcats, a date with Seminole in the regional finals ended in disaster. After bulldozing their way into the championship game with a 46-41 win over Colonial, they fell 66-54 Friday night. The Wildcats had led the game 34-25 before letting Seminole back into the game in the second half. The loss ends their season.

Edgewater

The lady Eagles punched their ticket to Lakeland with three straight wins in the regional playoffs, culminating in a dominating 51-24 demolition of an Armwood team that was fresh off a blowout win of its own.

On a broadening gap of point spread in their last two games, the Eagles (22-5) roll into the state semifinals against an Oakland Park Northeast (19-7) team that won 65-48 in their own regional championship game. Tipoff is at 4 p.m. Friday at the Lakeland Center.