Five players scored in double figures, led by Caleb Love’s 16 points, in Arizona’s 88-80 victory Saturday night over UCF in a Big 12 game at McKale Center.
The Wildcats (10-5, 4-0 Big 12) won their sixth consecutive game while UCF (11-4, 2-2) has lost two of its last three games after it had a six-game winning streak.
Love also had eight rebounds and six assists.
Anthony Dell’Orso had 13 of his 15 points in the second half and made all nine of his free-throw attempts.
Henri Veesaar scored 10 of his 14 points after halftime.
Their performance helped Arizona pull away after leading 45-42 at halftime.
Tobe Awaka finished with 11 points and five rebounds and KJ Lewis had 10 points.
Jaden Bradley and Trey Townsend each had nine points. Bradley added six rebounds.
Keyshawn Hall led UCF with 22 and Darius Johnson finished with 18.
The Knights had 20 offensive rebounds that led to 23 second-chance points.
UCF also had more points in transition, outscoring Arizona 13-8 in fast-break scoring.
Love had 11 points and four assists by halftime when Arizona led 45-42.
The Wildcats took a 33-19 lead with 8:14 left in the first half when Love made his third 3-pointer of the game.
UCF responded with an 8-2 run, six points by Rokas Jocius, to cut the lead to 38-32 with 4:29 left before halftime.
Arizona made one field goal the rest of the half, allowing UCF to tie the game at 42 with 38 seconds left in the half.
A 3-point play by Thomspon closed the scoring of the half with 14.2 seconds left.
UCF had 12 offensive rebounds in the first half that led to 11 second-chance points.
Veesar had six points during Arizona’s 10-2 run that built a 63-52 lead with 12:42 left.
Dell’Orso scored eight straight points for Arizona, including five on free throws, that helped the Wildcats take an 82-65 lead with 6:49 left.
Arizona made 23 of 29 shots from the free-throw line while UCF was 12 of 17.
UCF cut the lead to 87-78 following a layup by Hall with 1:17 remaining.
The Knights missed four straight shots afterward before Hall made a tip-in with 1 second left.
Arizona missed its last six field-goal attempts over the last 5:56 but held on for the win behind its free-throw shooting.
Recommended for you
