The Sports Xchange
Nov 23, 2017
The Central Florida Knights scored 19 straight points in the first half Thursday night and advanced to the semifinals of the Advocare Invitational with a 68-59 victory over the Nebraska Cornhuskers at HP Field House in Lake Buena Vista, Fla.
Ceasar DeJesus had 15 points to lead the Golden Knights (4-0), and 7-foot-6 center Tacko Fall supplied 11 points, eight rebounds and four blocked shots.
Fall anchored a defensive effort that limited Nebraska (3-2) to 34.4 percent shooting from the field, including 6 of 21 from the 3-point line.
James Palmer Jr. scored a game-high 22 points to pace Nebraska. Glynn Watson, Jr. added 11 but made only 5 of 17 shots from the field. Isaac Copeland, who scored 30 on 14 shots Sunday in Nebraska's 92-70 win over Maryland, was held to eight points on 3-of-10 shooting.
Nebraska led 10-8 with 13:25 left in the first half when UCF started its game-shaping run. By the time Fall tipped in DeJesus' missed layup with 6:29 left, the Golden Knights owned a 27-10 advantage that would hold for the remainder of the game.
UCF took a 36-20 lead to halftime and was able to hold off several small second-half runs. A Palmer jumper with 3:37 left drew the Cornhuskers within 53-47, but they were able to get no closer.
The Golden Knights converted 51 percent of their shots from the field and owned significant advantages in bench scoring (23-5) and points in the paint (36-20).
UCF will meet Marist or No. 23 West Virginia on Friday night in a semifinal matchup.