Sports Update | M. Hoops falls to Central Florida

ORLANDO, Fla. - When the Quakers took the floor against Central Florida after a record 24-day layoff it was just more of the same as before the break.

Penn notched its seventh loss of the year, falling 81-64 to the hosts of the UCF Holiday Classic. The Quakers now meet 3-7 Campbell, who fell 98-89 to Chicago State earlier, today at 4:30 in the third place game.

"It's tough," senior Kevin Egee said of coming up with a loss after so much practice time. "We worked a lot the past few weeks on our defense, stressing some things that we haven't done well in the past."

But just like in Penn's previous loss against Navy where Kaleo Kina tallied 28 points, the Quakers struggled to defend their opponent's top player. This time UCF's Jermaine Taylor punished the Red and Blue, from beyond the arc and in the paint.

Penn coach Glen Miller gave freshman Rob Belcore his first start, hoping his size and defensive skills would make for a better matchup with Taylor. But the result was 34 points for Taylor, including 3-for-6 shooting from beyond the arc, tying his career-high.

"He's a tough player," said Egee, who had a turn guarding Taylor when Belcore took a breather. "He's a big body. He's strong. I think Rob did a pretty good job on him, but anytime a guy goes 34 points, he can't do that well of a job on him."

But Taylor wasn't playing his best game in the first half, and with the rest of the Knights struggling to settle in, Penn was able to keep pace.

"We were just impatient," UCF coach Kirk Speraw said of his team's start. "We just wanted to make things happen on one pass and you can't do that against a good defense."

Down by 8, the Quakers battled back and took a 27-26 lead on a Harrison Gaines layup with just over five minutes remaining in the half. The Red and Blue went into the break down just 35-32. Penn sophomore Tyler Bernardini had put up the first seven points of the game for the Quakers and 12 of his 13 in the first half.

Penn looked tired to start the second frame and then the game began to unravel.

Taylor added seven points for the Knights in a two minute span and suddenly the Red and Blue were down by 12 six minutes into the second half.

"When we were able to get a little bit of a lead, they were never able to come back and I thought that was critical," Speraw said.

The Knights shot nearly 61 percent from the field after the break and led by as many as 22 points.

"We did a lot of things wrong as a team in the second half rather than just them playing a little tighter defense on me," said Bernardini, who made just one second half point off a free throw. "It's just a frustrating second half."

The Quakers may have had 24 days to rest and get back to basics. But nothing has changed.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.