Darius Johnson had 31 points, 4 rebounds and 7 assists to lead UCF to a 88-80 win over Cincinnati, snapping a five-game losing streak to the Bearcats and advancing the Knights to the semifinals of the inaugural College Basketball Crown Tournament.
UCF (19-16, 7-13 Big 12) advances to face the winner of Villanova-USC on Saturday (4 p.m., FS1). Nebraska takes on Boise State in the other semi, with the championship game set for Sunday (5:30 p.m., FOX) at T-Mobile Arena.
Johnson led four Knights in double-figures, with Tyler Hendricks scoring 14, Moustapha Thiam adding 13 and Nils Machowski with 11.
This was the second game between the two teams this season,n with Cincinnati (19-16, 7-13 Big 12) owning a 93-83 win over UCF at Addition Financial Arena on Feb. 5.
Johnson started strong for UCF, scoring the Knights’ first eight points and giving them an early 8-3 lead before the first media timeout. Cincinnati struggled initially, missing five of its first six shots. However, the Bearcats rallied with a 9-3 run, narrowing the gap to 13-12.
UC continued to chip away, taking its first lead at 25-24 with 6:39 left in the first.
The teams battled back and forth with two lead changes over the next few minutes before UCF pushed ahead for a 38-35 halftime advantage.
Johnson had 13 points and 4 rebounds but 5 turnovers in the first 20 minutes, leading all scorers.
There were four lead changes over the first five minutes of the second half before UCF went on a 6-0 run to grab a 50-46 lead with 14:47 left in the game. Machowski had 6 of the Knights’ 12 points during that stretch.
UCF went on a 10-0 run fueled by 8 straight points by Johnson as the Knights built their largest lead of the game at 79-70 with 2:36 left.
Johnny Dawkins’ team finished with a 19-10 run to earn the victory.
The event features an all-expenses-paid trip for teams and provides a lucrative name, image and likeness (NIL) package totaling $500,000 for the top four teams. The winner receives $300,000, the runner-up gets $100,000, and the third and fourth-place teams earn $50,000 each.
UCF was without forward Keyshawn Hall, who entered the transfer portal last week and already committed to Auburn. Hall led the Big 12 in scoring with 18.8 points per game and started all 33 regular season games.
He was one of eight Knights players who entered the portal once the transfer window opened on March 24. Guards Hendricks and Machowski were also part of that group, but coach Dawkins allowed them to play in the tournament.
Matt Murschel can be reached at mmurschel@orlandosentinel.com
