Men's Basketball Defeated By UCF

Tuesday, January 23

Orlando, Fla.

7:30 PM ET

Florida Atlantic

UCF

1/23/2001 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball

Jan. 23, 2001

Box Score

ORLANDO, FL -

Jeff Cowans scored a game-high 23 points, but it wasn't enough as Florida Atlantic University (5-15, 4-5 Trans America Athletic Conference) fell to the University of Central Florida, 89-79, Tuesday night in Orlando. Cowans was joined by Earnest Crumbley and Daryl Dingle in double figures with 19 and 10 points, respectively. UCF (7-12, 3-6 TAAC) was led by Kevin Lee, who finished with 16 points.

The Owls never led as the Golden Knights jumped out to a 14-4 lead with 14:34 left in the first half. After a 4-0 run by FAU, UCF increased its lead to 19-8 with 12:51 to play in the first half. With several players from Orlando and the surrounding area, FAU head coach Sidney Green decided to start those who were making a homecoming. Freshmen walk-ons Dave Richardson and Joe Hatton, both from Orlando, started along with fellow Orlando native and current starter Cowans. Freshman Robert Williams, who is from nearby Haines City and Crumbley rounded out the starting five.

FAU trailed 39-25 with 18:33 left in the first half before a jumper by Dingle and a three-pointer by Jeff Hamilton helped FAU to a 5-0 run to close the half trailing 39-30.

The Owls jumped out to a 6-0 run to start the second half to trail just 39-36 with 18:20 to play. A tree-pointer by UCF's Mario Lovett gave the Golden Knights a 42-36 lead before another 6-0 run by FAU tied the game at 42-42 with 16:09 to play. Unable to capture the lead, FAU tied the game again at 46 with 13:54 left in the game before UCF opened up a 51-47 lead with 10:35 remaining. Leading 51-49 with 8:47 left, the Golden Knights put the game away with an 18-5 run to lead 69-54 with 3:35 left.

"They were in dire need to get a win," said Green referring to UCF's three-game losing streak heading into the game. "You have to credit them because they played one of their best games of the season against us. They came right at us from the beginning."

For the game, UCF outshot FAU 49-percent to 40-percent. FAU went 42-percent from beyond the arc while outrebounding UCF 39-38. Nick Neumann and Dingle each shared game-high honors with eight rebounds. The loss was FAU's seventh straight against UCF.