FAU Men's Basketball Defeats UCF 62-55

Saturday, February 3

Boca Raton, Fla.

7:00 PM ET

Florida Atlantic

UCF

2/3/2001 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball

Feb. 3, 2001

Box Score

BOCA RATON, FL - Gamesmanship began before tip-off with a tiff over the mid-court circle for the pre-game cheer and it may have been the incentive Florida Atlantic University's men's basketball team needed to pull off a 62-55 victory over the University of Central Florida, Saturday night.

The win was the first in nine attempts versus the Knights and improved FAU's record to 6-17, 5-7 in the Trans America Athletic Conference, while UCF's falls to 7-16, 3-9.

"It was very important for us to come out and execute our defensive structure," said Sidney Green, FAU's head Coach. "We worked this week on thinking second, reacting first. Basketball is a game of instinct. We did it very well tonight."

The Owls led by as many as 12 in the first half and took a 31-26 lead into the locker room. The Knights took advantage of a 13-4 run to tie the contest at 48 with 6:30 remaining. UCF grabbed the lead at 52-51, but never led by more than two before FAU's Earnest Crumbley, a freshman, sank one of his three treys to take back a game the Owls would not surrender.

"It is my job as a point guard to know who is shooting," said John Smart, who picked-up a rebound from a missed UCF three-point attempt drove the floor and dished to Crumbley for the game breaker. "Earnest came through."

"I want to contribute to the team," said Crumbley. "My threes gave us a little cushion and confidence to win the game."

FAU which concentrated on defense last week held UCF to 28% shooting in the first half and 39.2% for the game.

"The last few games teams have been shooting better than 50% against us," added Smart. "One practice, this week, we didn't even use balls we just focused on defense."

Every player who saw action score in the game with Crumbley and Smart leading the squad with 11. Robert Williams added 10. Daryl Dingle had a game high 11 rebounds.

UCF was led by Paul Reed's 14 point seven rebound effort.

The Owls will next play 8 pm, February 8 when the team plays host to Mercer in another TAAC match-up.