Jordan and Sykes power Knights past Hatters

A well-rested Knights (9-3) team bounced back after a disappointing defeat last week with an 80-70 win over the Stetson Hatters (4-7) in the opening game of the UCF Holiday Classic on Thursday night.

Four Knights scored in double digits with junior guard Marcus Jordan and sophomore guard Isaiah Sykes leading the way for UCF.

Jordan (26 points, eight-of-13 from the field) and Sykes (20 points, nine-of-14 from the field) combined for a 46-point effort to help their team snatch the win.

"It's always fun to play against Stetson. They're a great team as you saw and it's almost like a miniature rivalry," Jordan said. "I think [we] just wanted to come and play aggressive. We shot the ball very well and I think we turned our defense up a little bit."

Sykes grabbed nine rebounds for the Knights as well.

"We played good [defense] and hustled." Sykes said.

Junior forward Keith Clanton, who had an off night, going only four-of-11 from the field, still contributed 11 points and hauled in a game-high 12 rebounds.

Sophomore forward Tristan Spurlock also notched 13 points and went five-for-seven from the free throw-line.

As a whole the team shot 51.8 percent from the field. Defensively the Knights limited the Hatters to shooting only 37.5 percent throughout the game.

Although the Knights shot well, they did however display signs of trouble during the second half with their lack of ability to build on a lead after leading by 18.

A win may be a win, but coach Donnie Jones expressed his displeasure about the Knights' efforts down the stretch.

"I'm not happy with how we closed out the game. We've got to learn to build on leads and we've not done a very good job all season long with that," Jones said. "We got it to 18 and then [the team has to take it] to 20, to 25. And I thought we played to the level of our competition.

The Knights will now play in the tournament's championship Friday at 7 p.m. at the UCF Arena.