SMU Basketball Update: Knights Nicked at Night

SMU Drops UCF In OT, Ending Its Six-Game Skid

DALLAS - Former SMU head basketball coach Sonny Allen couldn’t have picked a better game to fly in from Nevada to see.

“I got my money’s worth,” he smiled, after SMU prevailed in overtime to hand UCF its first conference loss of the season, 69-67. The win ended the Mustangs’ six-game losing streak and provided a badly needed confidence boost.

“I think it shows the guys what we can do,” said SMU head coach Matt Doherty. “That we’re capable of beating some of the upper echelon teams in the league.”

Former SMU head basketball coach Sonny Allen, center, was on hand for the Mustangs' win Saturday. Here, at halftime, he's surrounded by former SMU players Ira Terrell, left, and son Billy Allen.

Bamba Fall’s short jumper in the paint with 23 seconds left in OT provided the winning margin. Jon Killen, who fed Fall on the play, pumped in a career-high 28 points, including a school record-tying seven 3s.

“I’ve never seen him play like that,” Derrick Roberts said of Killen. “He told me before the game … ‘It’s feeling good tonight.’ I was like, ‘Well, let it fly.’”

Killen also had seven assists and six rebounds. (Before the UCF game, he led C-USA in assists per game in league play with 7.25.)

Said Doherty of Killen, “He’s grown into one of the better players in Conference USA.”

Fall finished with 11 points and 8 rebounds.

SMU held UCF to 28 percent shooting in the second half and 36 percent for the game. That’s especially big, considering the Knights just shot a league-record 70.2 percent in a win at UTEP on Wednesday.

UCF (11-8, 4-1) was led by Jermaine Taylor with 26 points, including five 3s. Dave Noel and Tony Davis added 12 and 10 points, respectively, for the Knights.

SMU (7-11, 1-4) shot 45 percent from the field and, for the eighth time this season, assists outnumbered turnovers (15-14).

Doherty said the Mustangs had to overcome thinking about last week’s one-point loss at home to Tulsa as OT loomed.

“You kind of get the feeling like, ‘Oh, my gosh, here it goes again,’” Doherty said. “‘Are we ever going to be able to win a close game like this?’”

Roberts’ got the Mustangs past any jitters by draining the first shot in OT, a 3-pointer from deep in the left corner. Killen pushed the lead to five with a lay up before UCF responded.

A 3 by UCF’s Mike O’Donnell tied the game, 67-67, with 46 seconds left, setting the stage for Fall’s game-winner.

SMU sophomore Cameron Spencer, left, had five rebounds, two clutch free throws and a big dunk in 12 minutes of play against UCF. "I thought he was huge," said SMU head coach Matt Doherty.

Down Early

SMU fought back after trailing by 13 points early in the second half. “It showed a lot of toughness,” Doherty said. “It showed a lot of competitiveness. I just was really proud.”

A Killen 3 tied it, 43-all, at the 13:58 mark and it remained tight the rest of the way.

UCF knotted it late, 62-62, on Taylor’s 3 from the corner with 12 seconds left in regulation. A similar shot by SMU’s Mike Walker wouldn’t go, leading to OT.

The Mustangs pulled out the win without Papa Dia, their leading scorer in conference play, who missed his second consecutive game with a hamstring injury. (He’s expected back for Saturday’s game at Tulsa.)

With Dia out, sophomore forward Cameron Spencer saw time and made the most of it. In 12 minutes of action, Spencer had five rebounds, two clutch free throws that gave SMU a 50-48 lead and, then, with five minutes left in regulation, a thundering put-back dunk that broke a 53-all tie.

“His tip-dunk was huge,” Doherty said, “because I thought that really energized the crowd.”

Doherty said there was well-deserved celebrating the Mustangs’ locker room afterward. “I danced a little bit and then Cameron danced,” Doherty said. “Cameron danced a little bit better than I danced.”

Next Two for SMU:

• Saturday, Feb. 2, at Tulsa, 8 p.m. (CSTV)

• Wednesday, Feb. 6, at No. 1 Memphis, 8 p.m.

Quotable Doherty:

• On Jon Killen: “He’s like an assistant coach. I ask him and Derrick, ‘What do you want to do? What defense do you want to run?’ And he gives me his opinion. I only over-road him once.”

• On his locker room dance: “What goes on in the locker room, stays in the locker room. Kind of like Vegas.” (A grinning Roberts later called it “horrible.”)

• On Cameron Spencer: “I told him he should be a DJ when he’s done [playing basketball], because he just talks, and talks, and talks. And he’s funny as heck and I know he mocks me behind my back all the time. But, he’s got a great, great personality.”

Sonny Notes:

Sonny Allen, SMU’s head coach from 1975-80, attended Saturday’s game with his son, former SMU guard Billy Allen, who played two seasons for him on The Hilltop.

“It’s great,” Sonny said of being back at SMU. “I really enjoyed my time here. I think Moody Coliseum is great place to play basketball.”

Sonny, who lives in Reno, Nev., said he makes it back to Dallas at least once a year to see the Mustangs play and to visit family and friends. Billy and his family live in Plano, Tex.

Friday night, Billy and Sonny attended a game at Highland Park, where Billy played high school ball and where another of Sonny’s former SMU players, Dave Piehler, is now head coach.

They plan to catch a Dallas Mavericks game on Sunday. “A weekend of basketball,” Sonny said.

Billy said he and his dad had lunch on Friday with Sonny’s former SMU players Ira Terrell, Mike Jaccar and Joe Swedlund.

“He’s lovin’ it,” Billy said. “It’s been a great homecoming for him.”