Senior Darius Johnson saved his best performance for the Knights’ last game at Addition Financial Arena this season, putting up a career-high 36 points Wednesday night. That was a major reason UCF was able to walk away with an 83-70 victory over Oklahoma State on Senior Night.
It was a competitive first half that ended with the Cowboys up 40-35. The start of the second half looked like it may belong to Oklahoma State as they quickly doubled their five point lead, making it 47-37. The Knights went on a run, though. UCF scored 32 points in under 10 minutes. During that span, OSU had just nine points. At the end of the run, UCF was up 69-56; their largest lead was 15.
Darius Johnson had 36 points on 10-of-18 shooting from the field while knocking down seven of the team’s 10 three-pointers.
“That was the perfect ending,” Johnson said about having his best performance on Senior Night. “We haven’t had the season that we wanted to have as a team, but you know, the guys tonight we came out and fought for each other. I’m super proud of them. I told the guys in the locker room, you know, just keep this train rolling. The season’s not over yet, we still can make a way when there is no way.”
Nils Machowski, who had nine of the team’s 15 bench points, was one of three other UCF players to knock down a three. Keyshawn Hall was one rebound shy of having a double-double, totaling 18 points and nine boards. No other Knights scored in double figures. Moustapha Thiam didn’t do much offensively this game, but he did have three blocks and a steal, accounting for four of UCF’s nine takeaways.
While UCF did turn the ball over 19 times, they made up for it by out-rebounding OSU 50-26 with 15 offensive rebounds. The Knights also shot 30 free throws compared to OSU’s 15, which proved to be a huge difference maker in this game.
The Knights are winners of three of their last four games. “I give my guys a lot of credit for continuing to compete and finding ways to be successful on the court,” UCF coach Johny Dawkins said.
UCF will play their final regular season game on Saturday, March 8th on the road against West Virginia.