UCF crushed by Memphis

The UCF mens basketball team scored first and last, but in between it was all Memphis March 9. The Tigers would go on repeated scoring runs that bamboozled the Knights, leading the game by as many as 38 points before closing it out by a score of 83-52.

UCF held its own for the first few minutes of the game, leading repeatedly in the first five minutes of the first half. But after the Memphis offense regrouped and went on a long scoring run, the Knights found themselves struggling to keep up for the remainder of the game.

The Knights had one of their worst shooting games this season, connecting on only a third of their shots, and only 10 percent of their three-point attempts. In a rare moment of offensive brilliance, center Josh Crittle, who normally plays a support position rather than attacking the basket, scored 9 points with the second most consistent shooting next to forward Isaiah Sykes, who led the team with 11 points scored.

Captain A.J. Rompza, who missed all but one of his eight field goal attempts, made up for it with seven rebounds, three assists and three steals.

The loss knocked the Knights out of the Conference USA Tournament a game shy of the championship. The Knights had defeated UAB Thursday by a score of 64-54. That was the third win of the season over UAB, which the Knights had never defeated before this season.

Now the Knights will wait to see if they have a berth in the NCAA or NIT tournaments to keep their postseason hopes alive.