College Basketball

Orlando NCAA Tourney Recap: UVA and UF Advance to Second Round

Published

9 years ago

March 16, 2017

ORLANDO, Fla. (FNN SPORTS) – The 2017 NCAA Tournament opened up their six-game slate Thursday afternoon with the Virginia Cavaliers taking on the University of North Carolina-Wilmington Seahawks and the Florida Gators taking on the East Tennessee State Buccaneers in opening round games in the East Region.

Virginia’s Perrantes Big Second Half Leads Them Past The Seahawks

ORLANDO (FNN SPORTS) – Darius Thompson (right) and UVA fought hard against UNCW for the win at Amway Center Thursday, March 16, 2017. Photo: Kim Klement/USA TODAY SPORTS

Virginia senior point guard London Perrantes took a hard shot to his head and neck area in the second half and left the game for a few minutes. But when he returned, he sparked his team to their 23rd win of the season. Perrantes, an All-ACC 2nd team selection, scored 19 of his game high 24 points in the victory.

After Wilmington shooting guard Denzel Ingram (17 points) hit his third 3-point shot to give the Seahawks a 15-point lead. Virginia Head Coach Tony Bennett called a quick 30 second timeout and the Cavaliers’ vaunted defense took over. They held the Seahawks to three points over the final 7:25 and they regained the lead at the half by the score of 30-29.

“They did a good job defensively for a while, but we did it. London, he always has such a good mind, came up with a real good suggestion in the halftime, and we got a quick couple of shots off that, but space and play was it.” – Virginia Head Coach Tony Bennett on the team’s second half adjustment.

Even though the Seahawks wouldn’t go away, big shots from Perrantes and the Cavaliers’ 6th-man Marial Shayok allowed Virgina to move on to Saturday’s 2nd round. Shayok scored a career-high 23 points and hit 3 of 5 3-point attempts. They will play the winner of Florida and East Tennessee State. Wilmington finishes the season at 29-6.

Leaders:

Scoring:

Virginia: Perrantes – 24
UNC-Wilmington: Chris Flemmings – 19

Rebounding:

Virginia: Devon Hall – 7
UNC-Wlimington: Devontae Cacok – 15

Assists:

Virginia: Hall and Ty Jerome – 4
UNC-Wilmington: Jordon Talley – 5

Gators Use Speed To Sink The Buccaneers

ORLANDO (FNN SPORTS) - Florida guard KeVaughn Allen and the Gators get early victory against East Tennessee at Amway Center Thursday, March 16, 2017. Photo: Wade Payne/AP.

ORLANDO (FNN SPORTS) – Florida guard KeVaughn Allen and the Gators get early victory against East Tennessee State at Amway Center Thursday, March 16, 2017. Photo: Wade Payne/AP.

Devin Robinson’s 24 points and 7 rebounds helped the Florida Gators advance to Saturday’s second round with an 80-65 victory over the East Tennessee State Buccaneers. The 24 points matched the junior’s season and career high. Robinson shot 10 for 17 from the floor with a variety of shots from all over.

“I thought he [Devin] started the game by–he said it already, just we’ve challenged him all year and [he] challenged himself to get out in transition, to really run. When he wants to, he runs like a deer. When he’s in space, he’s got the ability to get his feet set and make jumpers, and he can really straight-line-drive it, of course. He’s a really talented guy.” – Florida Head Coach Mike White on Devin Robinson

Florida started the game off quickly by using their superior speed and quickness to create fast-break points. Florida outscored East Tennessee State 18-2 on fast break points and scored 20 points off of the 17 forced turnovers. Florida had 12 steals in the game and center Kevarrius Hayes led the Gators with a career-high six.

East Tennessee had taken an early 35-33 lead ten seconds into the second half before the Gators took control of the game. Guards Kasey Hill and Chris Chiozza spearheaded the Gators as they put the game out of reach by combining for 3 of the 7 Gator-made 3-point baskets.

East Tennessee State finishes the season at 27-8 and were led by T.J. Cromer, who had 19 points on 7 for 13 shooting. Florida has a big game on Saturday against Virginia with the winner going to the Sweet 16 in New York next weekend.

Leaders:

Scoring:

Florida: Robinson – 24
East Tennessee State: Cromer – 19

Rebounding:

Florida: Robinson/Hayes – 7
East Tennessee State: Tevin Glass – 9

Assists:

Florida: Hill – 5
East Tennessee State: Jermaine Long – 6

Danny Thompson is a contributing sports reporter for Florida National News. He can also be found over at NBA Full Court Press Radio.

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Business

Addition Financial, UCF Extend Naming Rights Agreement for Arena

Published

4 years ago

August 18, 2022

FNN SPORTS

Addition Financial Arena on UCF's main campus. Photo via Trip Advisor.

ORLANDO, Fla. (FNN SPORTS) – UCF has extended its naming rights partnership with Addition Financial Credit Union for an additional dozen years—in the process continuing to identify Addition Financial Arena on the UCF campus as the Knights’ home for men’s and women’s basketball games and a variety of other events.

The new agreement is a 12-year, $20 million partnership that follows up the original naming rights pact signed by UCF and Additional Financial in 2013. The new deal takes effect Jan. 1, 2023.

The UCF Board of Trustees approved the name at its meeting this morning, and the full deal is expected to be approved Aug. 25 by the UCF Athletics Association.

“We’ve had a partnership with Addition Financial for nearly a decade, and we’re excited that Kevin Miller and the Addition Financial Board have agreed to extend our relationship for an additional 12 years,” says UCF vice president and athletics director Terry Mohajir. “This is a great new venture with outstanding community partners.

“Resources will be paramount as we transition into the Big 12 Conference a year from now, and Addition Financial will play a key role for us as we invest more resources to enhance our education and athletics missions!”

In 2013, Addition Financial was named the Official Financial Institution of the UCF Knights and is the exclusive credit union for UCF Athletics. Since that time, Addition Financial has partnered with UCF Athletics to provide scholarships, financial education workshops and other sponsorship support. Addition Financial is also the home of the official UCF Knights debit cards, with designs featuring the new Knight head and the Citronaut.

“Addition Financial is proud to continue our longstanding partnership with UCF Athletics and to align with Orlando’s hometown teams. Knight Nation has truly inspired us along their journey to the Big 12, and we look forward to embarking on that journey alongside them as we extend our partnership,” said Kevin Miller, Addition Financial president and CEO.

The 10,000-seat Addition Financial Arena has been home to the UCF men’s and women’s basketball programs since the start of their 2007-08 seasons. Located in the heart of Knights Plaza on the north side of campus, the state-of-the-art facility opened in the fall of 2007 and also hosts premiere concerts along with UCF commencement ceremonies.

College Basketball

UCF Knights “Charge On” to 80-58 Victory over Quinnipiac

Published

6 years ago

December 18, 2019

FNN NEWS

UCF Knights 80- Quinnipiac Bobcats 58. Image: UCF.

ORLANDO, Fla. (FNN SPORTS) – The UCF Knights (5-4) hosted the Quinnipiac Bobcats (1-6) at Addition Financial Arena Tuesday night in just their third overall meeting; with both teams splitting the match-ups with one win each in previous years’ match-ups. The last game between the two schools was December 29, 2005 in Orlando, which the Bobcats won 71-55. This time, however, the outcome favored the Knights.

The first half of the game was competitive with the score tied on four occasions and seven lead changes. UCF Knights entered halftime with a 40-29 lead over the Bobcats. Leading the Knights in scoring was Kay Kay Wright with 10 points; and for the Bobcats, Shaq Edwards with 12 points.

The Knights started the third period on a mission with a 10-2 run, increasing their lead to 18 points. With a mixture of defenses and using their length inside, the Knights controlled the second half with offense rebounding, winning the battle of points in the paint (50-10) and forcing 22 turnovers from the Bobcats that resulted in 21 points for the Knights. In the end, the Knights won the contest 80-58. Leading all scorers was Shaq Edwards of Quinnipiac and Brittney Smith of UCF with 18 points apiece.

Next up, UCF Women’s Basketball host St. Mary’s (4-5) Friday, December 20, 2019 at 2:30pm.

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Jelisa Caldwell is a Florida National News sports contributor. | info@floridanationalnews.com

College Basketball

Forced Turnovers Carries Knights to American Athletic Conference Quarterfinals

Published

8 years ago

March 9, 2018

FNN SPORTS

ORLANDO, Fla. (FNN SPORTS) – In the final game of the opening day of the American Athletic Conference Men’s Basketball Tournament, the Central Florida Knights used defense carry them to a 66-52 victory over the East Carolina Pirates.

Senior guard B.J. Taylor led the Knights in scoring with 17 points and head coach Johnny Dawkins’ team forced 20 turnovers in the victory. In front of a partisan crowd at Amway Center, the Knights used a 10-0 run to put them up by 11 with 6:12 to go in the game. After the Pirates cut the lead to 46-45 with 9:15 to go, Terrell Allen had two steals in a three-minute stretch and A.J. Davis capped the run with back-to-back layups that put the game out of reach.

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Danny Thompson is a sports contributor for Florida National News. | info@floridanationalnews.com