National Basketball Association
Tulsa 56, Central Florida 54
When: 12:00 PM ET, Wednesday, December 31, 2014
Where: CFE Federal Credit Union Arena, Orlando, Florida
Officials:
# Rick Crawford, # Kevin Mathis, # Gary Maxwell
Attendance:
3440
By SportsDirect Inc.
Tulsa 56, UCF 54: Shaquille Harrison scored 22 points and the Golden Hurricane hung on for the road victory in its American Athletic Conference debut.
Tulsa, which won the Conference USA title last season, also received 14 points from James Woodard to go along with eight points and eight rebounds from Rashad Smith. The Golden Hurricane (8-5, 1-0 AAC) blew a 15-point lead in the second half but never trailed and Woodard had a pair of key field goals down the stretch.
Adonys Henriquez paced UCF (7-5, 0-1) with 17 points and Justin McBride added 10 points and 10 rebounds off the bench. The Knights had a chance to tie the game but Daiquan Walker missed a runner with one second to play.
Woodard buried a 3-pointer on Tulsa's first possession and the Golden Hurricane raced out to an 8-0 lead. Tulsa got a dozen points from Harrison in the first half to take a 36-21 lead into the break.
The Knights used an 18-3 run, capped by back-to-back 3-pointers by Henriquez, to tie the game at 49 with just over six minutes left. Woodard finally ended the Tulsa drought with a 3-pointer to give the Golden Hurricane a 52-49 advantage with 3:29 left.
GAME NOTEBOOK: McBride injured his ankle midway through the second quarter but returned a few minutes later. ... Tulsa had only four turnovers. ...The Golden Hurricane got only seven points from their bench.
Top Game Performances
Tulsa |
|
Central Florida |
Shaquille Harrison 22 |
Scoring |
Adonys Henriquez 17 |
Shaquille Harrison 2 |
Assists |
Daiquan Walker 4 |
Rashad Smith 8 |
Rebounds |
Justin McBride 10 |
Shaquille Harrison 4 |
Free Throws Made |
Staphon Blair 4 |
Shaquille Harrison 4 |
Steals |
Staphon Blair 1 |
Brandon Swannegan 1 |
Blocks |
Shaheed Davis 1 |
Team Stats Summary
Team |
Points |
FG% |
3PM-3PA |
FTM-FTA |
Assists |
Rebounds |
Blocks |
Steals |
Turnovers |
Tulsa
|
56 |
38.1 |
2-15 |
6-10 |
8 |
31 |
2 |
7 |
4 |
Central Florida
|
54 |
38.8 |
7-17 |
9-12 |
10 |
32 |
4 |
3 |
16 |