UCF Rolls Over Tulsa Behind Mahan's 17 Points

Behind Mahan’s hot shooting, UCF Men’s Basketball controlled the game and knocked off Tulsa.

Author:
Andrew Johnson
Publish date:
Feb 14, 2022 10:54 PM EST

UCF earned its second consecutive win 76-67 over Tulsa behind fifth-year senior Brandon Mahan’s 17 points. The Knights are now over .500 on the season in conference play and improved to (15-8, 7-6) with just five games remaining.

Mahan caught fire from behind the arc hitting 5-6 from deep while shooting an efficient 75% from the field. Freshman point guard Darius Johnson contributed 14 points with five assists and five rebounds. Johnson has become the engine of the Knights’ offense and is continuing to develop confidence in his game.

UCF’s fifth-year senior Darius Perry also contributed 12 points with six rebounds and four assists. More importantly, he is beginning to accept the leadership role as an experienced guard. The hot-handed Darius Green Jr. didn’t have his best shooting night but added 11 points. He was more or less a decoy because of his ability to shoot from the perimeter.

Both teams started the game slow until Perry broke the ice two minutes into the game. The sluggish start continued as Tulsa was held scoreless for the first four minutes of the matchup. That’s when Perry hit his first three of the night to give UCF a 7-3 lead heading into a media timeout.

The Knights were able to force Tulsa into shooting tough perimeter shots which became a problem for the Hurricanes in the first half. UCF controlled the pace early on and even took a nine-point lead after a 7-0 run was sparked by Mahan. Later on, his third three of the night gave UCF a momentum-building 36-20 lead.

Tulsa was led by senior forward Jeriah Horn who finished with 18 points and added eight rebounds with two assists. Horn has a solid jump shot and a good inside game which gave UCF’s bigger forwards trouble defending the paint and perimeter. He had nine points and six rebounds for Tulsa despite being down 41-30 to close out the first half.

The second half opened with Tulsa’s freshman guard Anthony Pritchard scoring seven straight to cut the lead down to 43-37. A pair of three’s from Perry and Johnson would give UCF back a commanding ten-point lead with 17:05 remaining.

Tulsa continued to struggle in the paint throughout the night and shot just 6-19 from behind the arc as well. An 11-0 run gave UCF a decisive 19 point lead with just over three minutes to go. Tulsa attempted a late-game comeback after Mahan was called for a frustration technical but couldn't close the gap as the Knights won rather comfortably.

UCF will travel to Houston, Texas to take on the No. 14 ranked Cougars on Feb. 17 at 9 p.m. The Knights will also end the regular season and conference play on Mar. 5 at Tulsa.

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