Photo by Romeo Guzman, Special to the Herald. Keith Clanton scored 14 points and grabbed seven boards in UCF's 90-72 loss to Notre Dame.
For the first 20 minutes of Sunday’s contest at Notre Dame at Purcell Pavilion, UCF’s offense was nearly perfect.
Despite some key players in foul trouble, the Knights entered halftime against a veteran team that is garnering votes in both national polls with the score tied at 41. After intermission, the Fighting Irish (8-1) leaned on two of their upperclassmen as Notre Dame outscored the Knights 49-31 to post a 90-72 victory.
Junior Tim Abromaitis totaled 31 points in the win, and Luke Harangody, a senior All-America candidate, scored 19 of his 29 points following halftime to hand UCF’s (6-2) young squad only its second defeat of the year.
Freshman forward Keith Clanton (above) had the best game of his young career with 14 points and seven rebounds, while a pair of Chicago area players, sophomore point guard A.J. Rompza (13 points) and freshman Marcus Jordan (a career-high nine points on 4-for-4 shooting from the floor, six rebounds), had good homecomings.
The Knights will return to the UCF Arena on Saturday to host Bethune-Cookman University starting at 5 p.m. The game will also be televised on the BrightHouse Sports Network (Channel 47).