Isaiah Sykes and Calvin Newell each scored 24 points as the UCF Knights downed the Rice Owls, 78-67, in a Conference USA showdown at UCF Arena.

Tristan Spurlock had a double-double of 14 points and 12 rebounds and Keith Clanton ripped down 10 boards for UCF (13-5, 3-1 C-USA) which has won four of its last five.

Tamir Jackson tallied 15 points, Julian Debose and Austin Ramljack each added 14 and Max Guercy contributed 10 points and six assists for Rice (4-14, 0-4) which has lost seven of its last eight.

Rice used a 7-of-13 effort from beyond the arc to stay even with UCF in the first half as the teams went into the break tied 32-32.

In the second half Rice continued to shoot well, hitting on 54.5 percent of its field goal attempts but deficits from the free-throw line (21-8) and beyond the arc (15-9) proved too much to overcome.

UCF had a 38-21 edge in rebounds which helped the Knights earn a 16-3 advantage in second chance points.

Game Notes