March 8, 2006

Box Score

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) - Josh Peppers scored a career-high 25 points, most of them on 3-pointers, Wednesday night to lead Central Florida to a 65-52 victory over East Carolina in the opening round of the Conference USA tournament.

Peppers connected on 8-of-14 shots, including 5 of 10 from the arc, as the fifth-seeded Golden Knights built an early lead and were never threatened in the second half.

The victory moved UCF (14-14) into Thursday's game against Houston, the tournament's fourth seed, which had a bye in Wednesday's opening round.

Corey Rouse scored 21 points and grabbed 14 rebounds to lead the 12th-seeded Pirates (8-20). Rouse's points came despite being the focus of the UCF defense. Most of the time, the Pirates' leading scorer faced double-teams down low.

Jeremy Ingram finished with 16 points, all in the second half, for East Carolina.

UCF buried the Pirates early behind Peppers, the only Golden Knight to finish the game in double figures. Peppers had 17 points in the first half as the Golden Knights hit five of their first seven shots from long range, and 6-of-11 in the half.

The Golden Knights' 54 percent shooting from 3-point range was better than its overall 50 percent shooting in the half.

East Carolina missed all eight of its 3-pointers and shot 19 percent in the first half, connecting on only five field goals, the last one coming with just over nine minutes left before intermission.

That helped UCF to a 42-16 lead at the half and the Pirates' lowest total in a half this season.

The Golden Knights led by as many as 29 early in the second half, and while East Carolina put together a couple of runs, including 10 unanswered points, the Pirates never got closer than the final 13 points.