Marcus Jordan's 28 points lead Knights past Aggies

Tuesday night's game illustrated a classic three-point shootout from both the Knights (7-2) and the North Carolina A&T Aggies (4-6), with UCF holding on to win, 77-65.

Junior guard Marcus Jordan, who missed the Knights' last game due to team violations, torched the three-point line by making five of his 12 attempts – good for more than half of the team's three-point shots made.

"It's good to have Marcus back and I was really proud of the effort he gave tonight," coach Donnie Jones said.

Jordan poured in a game high-28 points and dished out three assists. The 28 points matched his career-high, a number he achieved when he played against the University of West Florida in the first game last season.

The Knights shot nine-of-27 on their three point attempts, while the Aggies went eight-of-23 behind the arc.

"Coach talked about it and said that they were going to jam up the paint," Jordan said. "We wouldn't get to the rim off driving from the top. We'd have to drive and kick and move the ball around."

Marcus' brother, senior point guard Jeff Jordan, also made his third collegiate career start, logging in 28 minutes.

"He's never really rattled," Jordan said. "If anything he really brings the team together. He's definitely getting comfortable."

The Jordan brothers displayed hints of chemistry on the court tonight.

"There are little things that we do that we tell somebody either to pick it up a little bit or we have little signals for back doors [cuts], so it's definitely fun playing with him," Jordan said.

Aside from Marcus, three Knights also scored in double-digits. Senior forward P.J. Gaynor came off the bench to contribute 11 points, going two-for-four from the three-point line and hauling in seven rebounds.

Although junior forward Keith Clanton had an inefficient shooting night (four-of-11), he was still able to score 13 points and had seven rebounds.

Sophomore guard Isaiah Sykes stuffed the stat sheet, grabbing eight rebounds, handing out five assists and stealing the ball four times while also scoring 10 points.

Trailing early in the first half, the Knights rattled off a 22-4 run to put them in the lead the rest of the way.

UCF's offense went frigid around the halfway point in the second half. The Knights watched their lead diminish to six points with around five minutes left in the game before they pulled away again to seal the win.

"We've got to continue when we get those leads," Jones said. "We got it (the lead) to 18 and then we let them back in the game, so we've got to build on that."

The Knights will have three days off before they continue their four-game home stand against Old Dominion (5-4) this Saturday.

Tipoff is at 5 p.m. at the UCF Arena.