PARADISE ISLAND, Bahamas - Central Florida's Keith Clanton turned in a double-double with a game-high 28 points and 14 rebounds to snap the College of Charleston's three-game winning streak, 74-63, in the first game of the inaugural Battle 4 Atlantis tournament held Thursday afternoon at Imperial Arena.
The Cougars (3-1) led by as many as seven points with 11:06 remaining in regulation where CofC seemed poised to maintain a comfortable lead on a three-pointer by redshirt junior Matt Sundberg. Two minutes later, the Knights (3-1) would cut it down to one on three-pointers by Clanton and Marcus Jordan, the younger of two sons of NBA legend Michael Jordan on the UCF squad.
It was a closely-contested game which saw 15 lead changes and nine ties. Nothing would go down for the Cougars as they consistently found the open look in the final seven-minute stretch, but couldn't get anything to stick. Foul trouble and being outrebounded, 44-25, would also plague them in the comeback attempt.
Both teams were sent to the line a combined 45 times with CofC going 13-of-18 from the charity stripe and UCF 13-of-27. The Knights converted 30 of their points on 13 miscues by the Cougars.
Sophomore Trent Wiedeman was one of three CofC players in double figures with a season-high 19 points followed by junior Andrew Lawrence with 14 and sophomore Jordan Scott with 10.
CofC had been off to a 3-0 start for the first time since the 2002-03 season with wins over Holy Cross and 2011 NCAA Tournament participants Morehead State and Clemson prior to the tournament.