Moustapha Thiam hit the go-ahead free throw for UCF with 55 seconds left as the Knights picked up a 76-75 win against Oregon State in the opening round of the College Basketball Crown in Las Vegas.
Darius Johnson, Tyler Hendricks and Nils Machowski led UCF with 15 points apiece. Hendricks also had 10 rebounds. Thiam added 10 points and nine rebounds for UCF (18-16), which will play Cincinnati in a second-round game Thursday.
Liutauras Lelevicius scored a game-high 20 points and Maxim Logue had a double-double off the bench with 18 points and 10 rebounds. Damarco Minor added 16 points and eight rebounds and Isaiah Sy chipped in 12 points for the Beavers (20-13).
The Knights took a 75-74 lead when Johnson hit a pair of free throws with 1:32 to play. Minor tied the game at 75-75 when he split a pair of foul shots.
After Thiam’s free throw, UCF forced an Oregon State miss on its next possession, but the Knights couldn’t run out the clock. After a Thiam rejection, the Beavers got an offensive rebound with 5.4 seconds left, but Lelevicius’ 3-point attempt was long at the buzzer.
Oregon State shook the rust off from a 24-day break first as Lelevicius’ layup extended the Beavers’ lead to 19-12 at the 11:55 mark of the first half.
But hot shooting from behind the arc got the Knights back in the game as a 16-4 run gave UCF a 28-23 on lead Johnson’s triple in transition. UCF made 8 of 19 3-point attempts in the first half and 10 of 26 for the game.
It was a tight game until UCF went on a 7-0 run to close the first half. A dunk by Thiam dunk, a trey by Dallan Coleman and Hendricks’ layup all came in transition as UCF took a 45-36 halftime lead.
When Josiah Lake II cut the Knights’ lead to 54-50 with a pull-up jumper, Johnson answered with a deep 3 for the Knights with 14:07 to play.
Logue’s jam pulled the Beavers within 58-56 with 11:06 left. His fastbreak layup led to an old-fashioned three-point play that gave the Beavers a 62-61 lead at the 9:21 mark.
–Field Level Media
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