Rice 57, UCF 50

By foxsports
Published

Connor Frizzelle scored 15 points and Rice ended a four-game losing streak in Conference USA by defeating Central Florida 57-50.

Rice led 51-50 when a technical foul was called on UCF's A.J. Rompza for making contact with Frizzelle while Frizzelle was trying to inbound the ball. The Rice guard made both shots and Tamir Jackson followed with two more to give the Owls a 55-50 lead with 27.2 seconds left.

The Owls (9-10, 1-4) got two more free throws from Arsalan Kazemi, who finished with 11 points and 14 rebounds. Jackson had 10 points.

UCF (14-4, 1-4) has lost four straight after opening the season with 14 straight wins. Keith Clanton led the Knights with 18 points and eight rebounds. Marcus Jordan added 10.

Rice started the second half with a 15-1 run that included contributions from seven players. Jackson's layup at the 12:16 mark gave the Owls a 40-28 lead.

Jordan, son of NBA legend Michael Jordan, stopped the run with a pair of free throws. Clanton followed with back-to-back driving layups and UCF outscored Rice 15-3 to tie the score at 43-43 on Jordan's two free throws with 5:26 left.

UCF led 27-25 at halftime, but that advantage didn't last long. The Knights, who shot only 32 percent in the first half, missed their first nine shots in the second half and didn't have a field goal until Clanton made a driving layup with 9:50 left in the game.