It took a little extra effort over the last few minutes on Saturday night before the UCF Knights could put away a pesky in-state foe at UCF Arena.

Bethune-Cookman forced the Knights into 18 turnovers and looked a bit more convincing in the post until UCF tightened up and put the game away down the stretch to come out on top, 63-50.

“We were starting to feel like the game might slip and we were in danger of losing,” said junior forward A.J. Tyler. “That’s when we picked it up.”

Keith Clanton (Photo by J.C. Carnahan)

Freshman forward Keith Clanton extended the lead for UCF (7-2) to 51-47 when he received a pass down low, took a quick bounce to shake off a defender, and laid in a shot off the glass with 3:08 to play. He would then drive to the bucket for another score before blocking a shot and stealing a pass in the paint over the final two minutes for the Knights.

“He came up big for us at the end with a couple blocks there when we needed to have some critical stops,” said UCF Coach Kirk Speraw of the freshman.

It was Clanton’s first career start, and it started out as a relatively quiet one in part because the Knights as a whole appeared to be playing down to their competition. It wasn’t until late in the game that Clanton showed he was comfortable attacking both on the dribble and defense end.

In the first half Clanton made a free throw and two shots from the field for five points, three rebounds, two assists, two blocks and two turnovers. He would finish the night 4-for-4 for nine points, five rebound and four blocked shots in all.

“He has a good sense and a good feel for the game,” Speraw said.

Getting UCF off and running in the first half was Tyler, a transfer from Clemson who Speraw says has added some stability in the post and has become much more consistent of late. He led all scorers with 18 points on 7-for-11 shooting and had six rebounds and three assists in 30 minutes of work.

Tyler started the game with a quick pass to Isaac Sosa that led to a score then had two quick baskets of his own, one of which while floating along the baseline off an assist from Clanton near the corner of the court.

But as a team, UCF went long stretches without scoring from the field while Bethune-Cookman seemingly did so at will. That was until the final five minutes of the game when the Knights tightened up defensively to allow just three points the rest of the way.

“We need to get to a point where as a team we do that from the very first minute – all 40 minutes,” said Tyler of the team’s defensive effort. “That’s where we need to get to.”

There’s not a whole lot of time to make that happen though, as the Knights go on the road to take on South Florida (7-1) on Wednesday and No. 14 Connecticut (6-2) on Sunday, Dec. 20. They will then host the UCF Holiday Classic with Liberty (5-6), Buffalo (5-3) and Jacksonville (0-5) coming to town Dec. 29-30.

The Knights start the New Year on the road at No. 25 Ole Miss (8-1) on Jan. 5 before the Conference USA slate gets underway against Rice at UCF Arena on Saturday, Jan. 9 at 5 p.m.

With the win over Bethune-Cookman, UCF stays unbeaten at home (5-0) and puts Speraw just four wins away from become the winningest head coach in program history.

“We stepped up and made it difficult on them to score coming down the stretch and that’s what you need,” said Speraw. “You need to dig down a little deeper no matter what had happened earlier in the game and you’ve got to fight, scratch and claw, and our guys were able to do that.”

Also making contributions for the Knights in the win were A.J. Rompza with 12 points, five steals and three assists; P.J. Gaynor with 10 points, nine rebounds, two blocks; and Sosa with 13 points off three three-pointers and 4-for-9 shooting.