University of Memphis Athletics
University of Memphis
11-6, 4-2
UCF
9-8, 2-4
Tigers Cruise Past Knights, 99-79
Jan 17, 2015 | Men's Basketball
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MEMPHIS, Tenn. - Memphis big men Trashon Burrell and Shaq Goodwin came off the bench to each have double-doubles and the Tigers scored a season high in points to beat UCF 99-79 Saturday at FedExForum.
Burrell scored 11 points and matched a career high with 12 rebounds to go along with a career-high five assists while Goodwin finished with a team-high 16 points and 10 rebounds. Fellow forward Nick King also came off the bench to finish with a team-high 16 points. As a team, the Tigers had more than half of their points off of the bench, outscoring the Knights 56-33.
In winning its third straight game Memphis improved to 11-6 and 4-2 in American Athletic Conference play heading into Wednesday's showdown at league-leading Tulsa. UCF is now 9-8 and 2-4.
Following a high-energy 63-50 win over Cincinnati earlier in the week, Memphis' momentum carried into Saturday as the Tigers never trailed against UCF. The Knights were coming off a 103-100, triple-overtime win over Tulane earlier in the week.
Memphis starting forward Calvin Godfrey blocked two early shots. He turned the first into a fastbreak up at the other end of the floor for the Tigers' second basket on the day and the Tigers quickly ran out to a 13-3 lead.
Godfrey scored 12 points, had seven rebounds, three blocks and a steal on the day.
Memphis led by as many as 16 points in the first half before the Knights closed the lead to 39-28 at the break. UCF's Adonys Henriquez canned a three-pointer with 40 seconds left in the first half for the Knights' lone trey before intermission.
Early in the second half, Memphis started to pull away. Austin Nichols dropped in a layup for his first points of the game off of a Pookie Powell assist. A Godfrey block led to a Markel Crawford layup, and then after Godfrey stole the ball on the next possession, he hustled down to receive a pass in the lane to finish it himself, giving the Tigers a 45-28 lead less than two minutes into the half.
UCF wouldn't get closer than 14 the rest of the way. Nick King sank a three to make it 61-40 with 13:09 remaining, He'd later hit a pair of free throws to extend the lead to the game's highest 24 with less than 10 minutes remaining. The Tigers put an exclamation point on the game with a pair of dunks in their final two possessions from Goodwin and Crawford to get the crowd on its feet before running down the final seconds.
Memphis finished shooting 51.4 percent (38-74) from the field, while holding the Knights to 45.6 percent (26-57). In the paint, Memphis held a 58-40 advantage, a 26-10 advantage on second chance points and 24-10 on fast breaks.
