– National Basketball Association – Chicago 102, Magic 99

Jameer Nelson was just a second late on his release from beyond the arc as time expired Sunday at the Amway Center. The Bulls (60-20) wrapped up the top seed in the East with the win. The Magic (50-30) was playing without Dwight Howard, who was out due to suspension following a technical foul earlier in the week. Ryan Anderson scored a career-high 28 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in Howard’s place.

– College Baseball – UCF 8, Tulane 7

The Knights trailed 7-0 at one point but avoided the sweep after getting four runs in the ninth inning. D.J. Hicks ended the game with a two-run single off the wall in right field to help UCF improve to 21-11 overall and 3-6 in Conference USA. UCF lost 10-8 on Friday and 6-5 on Saturday.

– College Softball – East Carolina 1, UCF 0

After winning both games on Saturday at ECU (3-2; 1-0) the Knights could not finish the sweep on Sunday. The lone run of the game came unearned in the bottom of the fifth inning on a fielder’s choice error. UCF drops to 15-23 overall and 5-7 in Conference USA.

= SATURDAY, April 9, 2011 =

– Women’s College Tennis – UCF 4, Stetson 3

The victory over Stetson (16-5) gives the Knights its 10th win in a season for the 20 straight years. After dropping two of the three doubles matches, UCF came up with big wins at the top three singles spots and at No. 6 to close out the day.

= FRIDAY, April 8, 2011 =

– College Baseball – (#8) Tampa 8, Rollins 7

The Tars dropped to 2-8 in the Sunshine State Conference despite multiple hits from Tony Brunetti, Kevin Mager and Winter Park High School alum Nick Adams. Tampa took a 6-4 advantage by posting runs in the fifth and sixth innings before going on to lead 8-5 following a pair of runs in the eighth. The Tars went on to drop the following two games 16-4 and 10-3 in the series.

= THURSDAY, April 7, 2011 =

– Women’s College Tennis – UCF 6, North Florida 1

UCF improved to 9-7 with the win over UNF (12-5). The Knights will host the C-USA Women’s Tennis Championship April 21-24 at the Lake Cane Tennis Center in Orlando. Admission is free for all fans.

= WEDNESDAY, April 6, 2011 =

– National Basketball Association – Magic 111, Charlotte 102 (OT)

Dwight Howard was called for his 18th technical of the season, Quentin Richardson was tossed from the game and Gilbert Arenas had his best outing as a member of the Orlando Magic as the Bobcats were eliminated from playoff contention. Despite five turnovers, Arenas led the Magic with 25 points.

– Men’s College Tennis – (#9) Rollins 9, (#25) Florida Southern 0

Rollins improved to 13-7 on the year as No. 12 Jeff Morris defeated Ivan Marevic 7-6 (10-2), 6-2 and No. 37 Arturo Baravalle put away Benoit Paradis 6-2, 6-4 in the top singles matches. Morris and Baravalle also teamed up for an 8-3 win in doubles, where they are ranked No. 14 as a pair.

– College Baseball – Rollins 2, Florida Tech 1

Kevin Mager hit a two-run homer in the first inning before the Tars (20-14) went on to hold off the Panthers (20-13) the rest of the way on Wednesday. Steven Gropler earned the win in his first start of the year.

= TUESDAY, April 5, 2011 =

– National Basketball Association – Magic 78, Milwaukee 72

Despite a tough night from the field and 21 turnovers, the Orlando Magic clinched the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference with the win. The Magic missed 19 straight 3-point shots after making its first two. Dwight Howard finished with 18 points and 17 rebounds. The Bucks went on an 18-2 run to tie the game at 72-all with 2:02 left.

= MONDAY, April 4, 2011 =

– Women’s College Lacrosse – (#9) Rollins 22, Millersville 6

Freshman Caroline Lamere, out of Lake Brantley High School, and Marissa Giannerini each led the Tars by scoring five goals and finishing with an assist in the win. Rollins improves to 9-3 on the season.

– Men’s College Tennis – UCF 7, Bethune-Cookman 0

The Knights (9-11) routed BCU in its final home contest of the season, which also served as the final appearance at the UCF Tennis Complex for Blaze Schwartz. The senior earned his ninth win at No. 3 singles against Santiago Lobelo 6-0, 6-3 and joined Joe Delinks for an 8-1 win over Jeffrey Smallwood and Marc Misanovic in No. 1 doubles.

– (email JC@OrlandoSportsCentral.com and follow at Facebook or @OrlandoSportsJC ) –

= WEDNESDAY, March 30, 2011

– National Basketball Association – Hawks 85, Magic 82

In a preview of what may turn out to be an opening-round matchup in the playoffs, the Orlando Magic could not hang on down the scratch against the Atlanta Hawks. The Hawks finished the regular season with three of four wins over the Magic. Jameer Nelson scored 20 points and had five assists. Dwight Howard (13 rebounds) and Hedo Turkoglu (8 rebounds, 5 assists) each scored 17 points.

= TUESDAY, March 29, 2011

– Women’s College Tennis – No. 9 Rollins 6, No. 11 Florida Southern 3

The Tars improved to 14-4 overall and 4-1 in the Sunshine State Conference. No. 29 Roshni Luthra defeated No. 31 Agnese Rozite 6-4, 6-4 in the top singles match and also teamed up with Allie Steele to win convisincingly in doubles competition. No. 17 Margeret Junker was upset in the second singles match by No. 32 Sabine Goge 6-3, 6-4.

= MONDAY, March 28, 2011

– National Basketball Association – Knicks 113, Magic 106

The Magic played the final moments of overtime without Dwight Howard and Hedo Turkoglu after both fouled out in the extra period. Howard finished with a team-high 29 points and 18 rebounds despite turning the ball over five times. Turkoglu finished with 18 points, four assists and three turnovers. The Magic, who was without Jameer Nelson (sprained left knee), J.J. Redick (strained lower abdomen) and Quentin Richardson (lower back), turned the ball over 21 times overall in the loss.

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The impressive college basketball career of Rollins College guard Nick Wolf was topped off with the senior being named a First Team All-American by Division II Bulletin and Second Team All-American by Basketball Times.

Wolf was also named to the First Team All-South Region by the National Association of Basketball Coaches. He garnered Sunshine State Conference Player of the Year for the second time in his career, was named SSC Tournament Most Outstanding Player and to the First-Team All-SSC squad for the third straight season.

The Cincinnati native averaged 21.2 points and 10.1 rebounds per game while leading the Tars to their second straight conference regular season and tournament titles.

Rollins was the third seed in the NCAA Division II South Region Tournament but lost to Florida Southern, 76-74, despite game-highs of 29 points and 10 rebounds from Wolf.

Rollins finished the season 25-7, earning 20 or more wins for the third straight season and fifth time in the past six years.

Wolf led Rollins to a record of 91-32 during the course of four years, to tying for the most wins in school history. He is the Tars’ all-time second leading scorer with 2,035 points while also ranking second in rebounds with 1,046. He is the only 2,000 point-1,000 rebound player in Rollins basketball history.

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Orlando Magic center Dwight Howard was named Eastern Conference Player of the Week for his efforts between March 21-27. It marks the sixth time this season that Howard has won the award, the 17th player of the week accolade of his career.

Howard led the Magic to a 3-0 record last week to push the team to its fifth consecutive victory. Orlando entered Monday on a five-game winning streak, the team’s third longest winning streak of the season.

Howard averaged 27.3 points (third in the East), an NBA-high 14.3 rebounds per game and shot .717 (27-of-38) from the field, which was also tops in the league. He also ranked first in the East in blocks (3.3 per game) and second in steals per contest (2.3). Howard tallied double-doubles in each of the Magic’s three contests, extending his franchise record double-double streak to 30 games (which started Jan. 21) and led the team in scoring and rebounding in all three games.

On March 21 at Cleveland, Howard recorded 28 points, 18 rebounds, four blocks, four assists and four steals. According to ESPN, he became the first player since Hakeem Olajuwon over 21 years ago to record those numbers in a single game (Olajuwon tallied 29 points, 18 rebounds, 11 blocks, 10 assists and five steals on March 3, 1990 in a victory over Golden State).

Howard’s sixth player of the week award is the most in the league for one player this season in the, ahead of LeBron James (5), Russell Westbrook (4) and Dwyane Wade (4).

A recap of the week for Howard:

– Mar. 21 @ Cleveland: Posted 28 points, 18 rebounds, four blocks, four assists and four steals in a 97-86 win.

– Mar. 23 @ New York: Poured in 33 points to go along with 11 rebounds, three blocks and two assists in a 111-99 win.

– Mar. 25 vs. New Jersey: Tallied 21 points, 14 rebounds, three blocks and two steals in a 95-85 victory.

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The UCF men’s basketball season come to a close against Creighton on Wednesday in the College Basketball Invitational semis in Omaha, Nebraska. The Knights fell 82-64, finishing the season 21-12 overall.

The game capped an unusually hectic day for the Knights. The team was unable to leave Orlando until 9 a.m. the day of the game, arriving via charter plane around 2:30 p.m. local time. UCF typically travels the day before games.

The Bluejays (22-14), who improved to 18-3 at home this season, raced out to a 15-5 lead and never looked back. The hosts shot 56.7 percent overall and 50.0 percent (5-of-10) from 3-point range in the opening half while forcing 13 UCF turnovers. The Knights trailed 44-23 at halftime.

UCF finished the season with at least 20 wins for just the sixth time since joining the Division I ranks in 1984. Under new head coach Donnie Jones, UCF posted non-league wins over No. 16 Florida, Miami and USF, and entered the national rankings for the first time in school history.

In Omaha, the Knights were led by sophomore Keith Clanton, who scored a game-high 26 points. UCF shot 48.9 percent, but made just 2-of-16 (12.5 percent) of its 3-point attempts.

Creighton shot 57.7 percent from the floor for the game, and 46.7 percent from deep. Gregory Echenique led the hosts with 19 points.

“Give credit to Creighton. They are a very good basketball team,” Jones said. “They were aggressive and played with an edge. Our kids kept competing. This tournament is about the future as much as it is about the now. There were a lot of positives from playing in this tournament.”

– (email JC@OrlandoSportsCentral.com and follow at Facebook or @OrlandoSportsJC ) –

On Monday the Knights (21-11) put together a huge second half in front of an announced crowd of 3,949, as they did away with Rhode Island, 66-54, in the CBI quarterfinals.

UCF improves to 15-0 against non-conference teams on the year and returns to the court Wednesday at Creighton (21-14) at 8 p.m. in the CBI semifinals. The game will be televised nationally on HDNet and broadcasted locally on 740 AM.

“We’re having fun right now,” junior point guard A.J. Rompza said afterwards. “That’s the way you win games. Right now we’re jelling.”

Rompza scored seven points, grabbed five rebounds and finished with four assists on his 21st birthday. The Knights were led by sophomore forward Keith Clanton, who went for 16 points and nine rebounds.

UCF played poorly in the first half and trailed 30-27 at the break after shooting only 31 percent from the field while making just 2-of-15 attempts from beyond the arc.

All that changed after intermission, though.

“I knew we had to come out and calm down and run the offense,” UCF coach Donnie Jones said. “We really wanted to focus on going inside and I thought we did a good job of playing inside-out.”

The Knights outscored Rhode Island in the paint 48-24 and won the rebounding battle by a 44-28 margin, of which 19 came off the offensive glass.

“Our defense won for us tonight,” Jones said. “We had great patience and executed, and was able to get good shots in crucial parts of the game.”

Rhode Island (20-14) was held to 24 points in the second half as UCF jumped out on an 18-5 run after the break. They led by 14 points with five minutes to play and made 17-of-25 shots in the final 20 minutes of the game.

Isaiah Sykes had six points, four rebounds, four steals and two assists for the Knights while Tom Herzog went 5-of-7 from the field for 10 points. A.J. Tyler scored 11 points and P.J. Gaynor had six points, five rebounds and four assists.

Marcus Jordan was held to four points on 2-of-11 shooting with four rebounds and four assists. Senior forward Delroy James, who poured in 18 points and grabbed eight rebounds, led Rhode Island on the night.

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Daniels led the Knights with 10 rebounds, and along with junior Ashia Kelly finished with a team-high 16 points. Kelly also grabbed six rebounds and tied a career-high with four 3-pointers in the loss.

The Conference USA champions played in front of a crowd of 5,658 at St. John Arena. It was the second trip to the tournament in four years for the five seniors.

The Knights trailed 43-33 at the break but got within six points early in the second half. They would get no closer. UCF turned the ball over 18 times for 28 points the other way and had six shots blocked by the Buckeyes, who shot 52.5 percent from the field. The Knights shot just 39.7 percent but outrebounded Ohio State by a 39-33 margin.

UCF (22-11) entered the game seeded No. 13 and on an 11-game winning streak. Ohio State (23-9) came in as a No. 4 seed. The 22 wins for the Knights are the most in a season for the program since 1983-84 and fourth-best total in program history. They dropped to 0-4 all-time in the NCAA Tournament.

Wiley scored 11 points or UCF, including a 3-pointer from the wing to pull the Knights to within nine points with 12:47 remaining. That bucket made her the program’s all-time leader from beyond the arc. She passed Francine Houston (2004-07) on the career 3-point list with 214 makes from long-range.

Caldwell finished with eight points and six rebounds while sophomore Gevenia Carter added seven points and a game-high five steals. Junior Aisha Patrick scored eight points, grabbed eight rebounds and dished out six assists.

The Buckeyes got a big game from Jantel Lavender, who finished with 30 points on 13-of-22 shooting and 11 rebounds.

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Five players scored in double figures for Orlando, led by 16 points, 18 rebounds, five blocks, four steals and three assists from Dwight Howard. Nelson finished with 13 points on 5-of-12 shooting.

The win improves Orlando’s record to 44-26 as they hit the road to face Cleveland (Sunday) and New York (Wednesday).

Just 12 regular season games remain, including five more contests in Orlando.

The Magic host New Jersey (March 25), Charlotte (April 1), Milwaukee (April 5), Chicago (April 10) and Indiana (April 13) down the stretch and are on the road against New York (March 28), Atlanta (March 30), Toronto (April 3), Charlotte (April 6) and Philadelphia (April 11).

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On Wednesday, UCF improved to 20-11 on the year following a 69-54 first-round win over St. Bonaventure.

Sophomore Marcus Jordan finished with 18 points on 6-of-12 shooting to go along with four rebounds, two assists and two steals for the Knights.

Junior A.J. Rompza scored 13 points (3-for-6) and dished out seven assists while Tom Herzog went a perfect 5-for-5 from the field for 10 points.

UCF outscored St. Bonaventure 25-10 over the last 12 minutes of the game after the visiting team tied the contest at 44-all. With the win, the Knights remains unbeaten on the season against nonconference opponents.

Isaiah Sykes led the team in rebounding with six boards and added nine points and two steals.

Rhode Island enters Monday’s at 20-13 overall following a 76-59 win in the first round of the CBI over Miami (Ohio).

This is the first time UCF has hosted a postseason game of any kind since joining the Division I level in 1984.

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The Knights (22-10) drew a No. 13 seed and will play in the Dayton Regional against No. 4 Ohio State (22-9) in Columbus on Saturday, March 19 at St. John Arena.

The matchup will take place following the 11:20 a.m. game between No. 5 Georgia Tech (23-10) and No. 12 Bowling Green (28-4). The game will be televised on ESPN2.

UCF enters the tournament riding an 11-game winning streak, as the Knights have not lost since Jan. 30. They entered the C-USA Championship as the No. 2 seed with a 12-4 mark in league play before going on to defeat Tulane 85-73 in the title game over the weekend.

Jelisa Caldwell led six UCF players in double figures with a game-high 27 points against the Green Wave. She connected on 9-of-22 shots from the field and drained 7-of-8 free throws while also grabbing 12 rebounds to claim MVP honors.

UCF outrebounded Tulane 45-32 and forced 21 turnovers in the win. D’Nay Daniels and Chelsie Wiley earned spots on the all-tournament team.

The Knights also played in the NCAA Tournament in 1996 and 1999.

Ohio State enters the postseason riding a nine-game win streak after claiming its third-straight Big Ten Tournament title with an 84-70 win over Penn State. OSU is led by four-time Big Ten Player of the Year, Jantel Lavender.

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