ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Jordan Burks scored 17 points, Jamichael Stillwell had a double-double, and UCF defeated Mercer 81-63 on Wednesday night, giving the Knights their eighth straight win.
UCF (9-1) has won eight in a row for the first time since the 2004-05 team also won eight straight. The Knights extended the best start under head coach Johnny Dawkins, who took over in 2016.
The Knights led 28-22 with 4 1/2 minutes remaining in the first half before a 3-pointer by Chris Johnson started a 7-2 run that gave them an 11-point lead, 35-24. Connor Serven’s 3-pointer got the Bears within 35-27 at halftime.
Central Florida scored the first five points of the second half for a 40-27 lead. The Knights led by double digits the rest of the way. The lead reached 20 points with a little over a minute remaining.
Riley Kugel scored 16 points and Themus Fulks 14 for UCF. Stillwell had 12 points and 10 rebounds for his third double-double of the season.
Brady Shoulders scored 14 points, Armani Mighty 13 and Baraka Okojie 10 for the Bears (7-4). Mighty had nine rebounds and four blocks.
Recommended for you
Mercer has lost two in a row, including a 70-63 loss to Clemson last Saturday that snapped the Bears' five-game winning streak. Three of Mercer's four losses have been to teams from a power conference.
Up next
UCF: The Knights host FGCU on Saturday.
Mercer: The Bears travel across the country to play at Washington State on Saturday.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO
personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who
make comments. Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd,
racist or sexually-oriented language. Don't threaten. Threats of harming another
person will not be tolerated. Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone
or anything. Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on
each comment to let us know of abusive posts. PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK. Anyone violating these rules will be issued a
warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be
revoked.
Please purchase a Premium Subscription to continue reading.
To continue, please log in, or sign up for a new account.
We offer one free story view per month. If you register for an account, you will get two additional story views. After those three total views, we ask that you support us with a subscription.
A subscription to our digital content is so much more than just access to our valuable content. It means you’re helping to support a local community institution that has, from its very start, supported the betterment of our society. Thank you very much!
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.