UCF 56, Houston 54: B.J. Taylor’s basket with 2.7 seconds remaining lifted the host Knights past the Cougars in an American Athletic Conference game.

Taylor finished with five points, well below his team-leading 13.9 average, and Brandon Goodwin and Staphon Blair scored 14 points apiece for UCF (11-13, 4-9 AAC), which has won back-to-back conference games for the first time this season. Kasey Wilson had 13 points and a team-high six rebounds, Goodwin added a career-high seven assists, and Blair grabbed five rebounds.

Devonta Pollard had 14 points and seven rebounds to lead Houston (9-15, 1-11), which played without leading scorer Jherrod Stiggers, who was suspended because of an undisclosed violation of team policy. LeRon Barnes added 12 points and L.J. Rose had eight points and eight assists for the Cougars, who lost their third consecutive game.

Houston produced an 8-0 run with Barnes and Rose nailing 3-pointers and Pollard dunking, to give the Cougars their largest lead of the first half at 17-11. UCF responded with a 9-1 run for a 20-18 lead before Houston, paced by Barnes’ 10 points, took a 33-32 advantage into halftime.

UCF went on a 13-4 run to start the second half with a 45-37 lead, its largest to that point. Houston outrebounded UCF 35-26.

GAME NOTEBOOK: UCF tied the series 9-9 and has won seven of the last nine meetings, including five of the last six. … The Knights played without Shaheed Davis, who was suspended from UCF’s game against USF on Wednesday for an undisclosed violation of team rules. … Houston has lost 11 of its last 13 games, including a 79-78 overtime setback at home against UCF on Jan. 6.