UCF’s website made a big deal about A.J. Tyler’s buzzer-beater at the end of the first half to give the Knights a one-point halftime advantage over East Carolina last night.

The buzzer-beater keyed the Knights in the second half. They never looked back as they beat the Pirates, 67-56.

The team shot 52% in the second half, including 5-of-7 from 3-point land. Tyler finished with 10 points and 9 rebounds. Taylor Young had 16 points and 6 assists. They were also 15-of-18 from the free-throw line, and only committed 12 turnovers to ECU’s 20.

After a tough row in conference play, this win was the 275th for Kirk Speraw, finally making him the winningest men’s basketball coach in UCF history.

The Knights will take a week off before heading up to C-USA kingpins Memphis next Wednesday, February 10.

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In a conversation with Orlando Sentinel columnist Mike Bianchi, UCF athetic director Keith Tribble stated a new apparel deal is in the works. They hope to have it done “by March”.

Of course you’ll remember back in November, adidas cut ties with UCF after freshman Marcus Jordan, younger son of NBA greatest-of-all-time Michael Jordan, wore his dad’s Nike Air Jordan’s on the court instead of the team’s adidas shoes. The story is that UCF had cleared it with the local adidas rep, but the national level of the company pooh-pooh’d the idea and ultimately sanctioned the Knights for it.

Personally, I hope they sign with Nike. They owe the Knights for sticking their neck out for their biggest brand like that.

Keith Tribble also expressed his delight at UCF’s potential football recruiting class this year. Although NCAA rules prevent him from discussing individual recruits until they are signed, he said in general this might be the best class UCF has recruited in a long time.

Signing Day is today, and begins at 10am EST.

Sorry for the break yesterday. I was at a conference for my 9-to-5 job.

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Despite a huge game out of Marcus Jordan, the Knights went cold in the second half and fell to Marshall Wednesday night, 81-75. At 9,460, the crowd was the second-largest yet for a UCF basketball game.

Baby Air stepped up big with 19 points, 4 assists, 2 steals and 5 defensive rebounds. A.J. Rompza had 12 points with 6 assists and 3 steals.

The men’s team will be in Tulsa tomorrow night, while the women’s team launch the home side of their C-USA campaign tonight against Memphis.

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The Orlando Predators have finally launched their 2010 season as of yesterday, presenting Pat O’Hara as their head coach and announcing the signing of several key players, including Kenny McEntyre and TT Toliver.

Brett Bouchy also announced the rest of his ownership group. They include the Holler Family (owns/runs Holler-Classic Automotive Group), Peter DiPasqua (owns 84 area Subway franchises), Bob Gries (investment banker, long history of AF investment) and Mike McHale (partner in Amway Arena’s Monte Cristo Club, local physican). Others include Patrick McHale, Randy Wilds, Dal Kim, and Doug Long.

They also stated that Jay Gruden’s role with the franchise would be announced later this month.

The box score document is here, and is in PDF form, so you better have Adobe Reader.

For points, P.J. Gaynor led the way with 18 points (6-10 FG, 6-7 FT). A.J. Rompza (5-10 FG, 6-6 FT) and Keith Clanton (7-9 FG, 2-4 FT) each had 16.

Rebounds were a minor problem, but well-distributed. We had 38 total rebounds. 8 each for Gaynor and Clanton, and 7 for Dave Diakite.

A.J. Rompza had 5 assists and 7 steals, leading the team in both. Isaac Sosa was 3-for-8 from 3-point range, and Taylor Young was 2-for-2.

Two of our boys, Rompza and Jakub Kusmieruk, had three personal fouls each to lead the team for the most. St. Leo had three players with four or more, but no foul-outs. Dominick Robinson, who had five personals for St. Leo, also got a technical for complaining to the refs over a foul.

Marcus Jordan finished the game with 1 point (0-3 FG, 1-2 FT), 1 assist, 3 steals and 1 personal foul over 23 minutes.

UCF beat Saint Leo in their only home preseason game, 84-65. The first half was ugly, with the Knights struggling at first before clawing their way to a 37-34 halftime lead. The second half looked more like the beatdown that was expected as the Knights outscored Saint Leo 47-31.

I do not have stats because, for some reason, ESPN doesn’t do stats for college exhibitions. Not even scores. I’ll gather some tomorrow if/when the school posts them.

Notable is Marcus Jordan, younger son of basketball legend Michael Jordan and freshman on the Knights. He finished the game with a single point and 1 personal foul; I think he saw more action in Space Jam…oh, sorry, that was Eric Gordon who played him in the film. Seriously, didn’t expect him to be run out there and score 63 points in his first game. Heck, I forgot he was even on the team until the middle of the second half.

What impressed me most about the team performance was sophomore guard A.J. Rompza, #5. He was running around out there like Speedy Gonzalez on a ritalin-and-espresso bender. Stealing balls, grabbing boards and drawing fouls. If UCF is going to do anything special this season, I have a feeling Rompza will be the catalyst.

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Speaking of Marcus Jordan, his insistence on wearing his father’s sneakers–and UCF’s permittance of this–has officially cost UCF its contract with adidas. UCF will forfeit its sponsorship money for this, the final year of a five-year contract, about $3 million. adidas will also no longer work with UCF.

Thanks a lot, Mike. You could’ve taught your son how to be a team player instead of being a prima donna. Of course, UCF could’ve put its foot down. In the end it falls on them for permitting Marcus to wear Nike shoes instead of their team gear. But this is the bed they made. Hopefully Nike picks them up next year for standing on Heir Jordan’s side.