Benny Williams scored his only points on a go-ahead dunk with 45 seconds left and UCF erased a nine-point deficit in the final five minutes to upset No. 13 Texas A&M 64-61 Monday night in Orlando in the season opener for both teams.
UCF fans stormed the court after A&M missed three attempts at a tying 3-pointer on the game’s final possession after Jordan Ivy-Curry split a pair of free throws with 15 seconds left.
The Knights (1-0) closed with a 14-2 run to stun the Aggies (0-1), who led most of the game and pushed their lead to 59-50 on Wade Taylor IV’s 3-pointer from the UCF logo with 4:52 left.
UCF senior guard Darius Johnson scored a game-high 24 points and dished five assists, including to Williams for the winning points. Ivy-Curry, a transfer from UTSA, added 16 points and J.J. Taylor, whose putback dunk with 1:31 left cut A&M’s lead to 61-60, contributed 10.
Pharrel Payne led the Aggies with 15 points. He also grabbed six rebounds before fouling out with 3:11 left. Taylor IV tallied 13 points and seven assists.
After Johnson sank a tie-breaking 3-pointer 17 seconds into the second half, Taylor made back-to-back 3-pointers to trigger a 20-7 run.
UCF scored only seven points during a span of nearly 10 minutes, but the Knights rallied to pull off the upset.
The teams entered the break tied at 29 after UCF took its first lead with 3:19 left on Ivy Curry’s 3-pointer.
The Knights started slow. They didn’t score their first points of the season until more than four minutes had elapsed and missed 11 of their first 13 shots, including 0-for-7 from 3-point range. They made six of their next nine from behind the arc, though, and eventually erased a 10-point deficit.
Texas A&M mustered only four points the final seven minutes of the half.
–Field Level Media
For the first time since 2000, the NBA Finals are headed to Indianapolis. The Pacers are even with the Oklahoma City Thunder at 1-all in the best-of-seven Finals as the…
The Indiana Fever will play their fifth straight game without Caitlin Clark when they travel to face the host Atlanta Dream on Tuesday. Clark, who leads the Fever with 19.0…
Caitlin Clark has been declared out for Tuesday’s WNBA game between the Indiana Fever and Atlanta Dream. Clark, who has missed four games while rehabbing a quad strain, expressed hope…
Caitlin Clark out for fifth straight game as Fever meet Dream
Caitlin Clark (quad) to sit Tuesday when Fever face Dream
Liberty not content with 8-0 record as Sky visit
Cavaliers G Darius Garland (toe surgery) out 4-5 months