National Basketball Association
BOXSCORE | RECAP
Rutgers 85, Central Florida 75
When: 7:00 PM ET, Wednesday, January 15, 2014
Where: Louis Brown Athletic Center, Piscataway, New Jersey
Officials: # Jim Burr, # Ron Groover, # Karl Hess
Attendance: 4031

Rutgers 85, Central Florida 75: Myles Mack scored 21 of his 25 points in the second half and went over 1,000 for his career to lift the host Scarlet Knights.

Jerome Seagears came off the bench to add 18 points for Rutgers (8-9, 2-2 American Athletic Conference), which led wire-to-wire to end a two-game skid. Junior Etou scored 14 points and Wally Judge chipped in 10 as the Scarlet Knights connected on 10-of-22 3-pointers and committed only eight turnovers.

Isaiah Sykes scored a career-high 29 points for Central Florida (9-6, 2-2), which suffered through a cold-shooting first half and played without second-leading scorer Calvin Newell, who didn't make the trip per coach Donnie Jones' decision. Eugene McCrory had 14 points for the Golden Knights, who held a 48-35 edge on the backboards.

Rutgers led by a point before Seagears scored eight points in a 14-4 burst to extend the lead to 35-24, but Sykes converted a rebound at the buzzer to pull the Golden Knights within nine points at halftime. Mack's 3-pointer gave the Scarlet Knights a 42-30 edge before Central Florida used an 8-0 run to close within four.

Mack responded by knocking down a pair of 3-pointers in a 10-2 run to stretch the lead to 59-47 with just over 11 minutes to play, but the Golden Knights refused to wilt and cut the deficit to 68-65 on a pair of free throws by Sykes with 6:15 remaining. That's as close as Central Florida would get as Mack and J.J. Moore each buried 3-pointers that restored the lead to nine.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Mack hit a pair of free throws with 2:50 left in first half to become the 40th player in school history to reach 1,000 points. ... Sykes is averaging 22 points in his last four games. ... Seagears, who missed two of the last three games, scored 12 of his points in the first half to compensate for starting forwards Judge and Moore, who each picked up two early fouls and were scoreless in the opening 20 minutes.
Top Game Performances
 
Central Florida   Rutgers
Isaiah Sykes 29 Scoring Myles Mack 25
Brandon Goodwin 2 Assists Myles Mack 8
Tristan Spurlock 8 Rebounds Craig Brown 6
Isaiah Sykes 12 Free Throws Made Myles Mack 7
Eugene McCrory 1 Steals Malick Kone 2
Staphon Blair 1 Blocks Wally Judge 3
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Points FG% 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA Assists Rebounds Blocks Steals Turnovers
Central Florida 75 36.1 5-25 26-34 10 43 3 3 14
Rutgers 85 47.0 10-22 13-18 18 31 9 7 8