Tulane sophomore guard Jonathan Stark had some Mardi Gras magic last Saturday. It was the kind of play that had students talking about Tulane sports at the Krewe of Tucks and into the Krewe of Endymion. The kind of play that made SportsCenter’s Top Plays as he sunk a game winning three point heave at the buzzer to upset Cincinnati.

But as Central Florida (12-13, 5-9 American Athletic Conference) came to Devlin Fieldhouse to take on Tulane (14-11, 5-8 AAC), there would be no late game heroics, as the Knights bullied the Wave to a 69-55 bruising. 

Senior guard Jay Hook set the tone early, scoring eight points off 3 of 4 shooting and got Tulane to a 16-9 lead, but the Knights stormed back and closed the half out on a 25-8 run to head into the half with a 34-24 lead. A lead that Tulane would never reclaim. 

Tulane starting guards, junior Louis Dabney and sophomore Jonathan Stark combined to shoot 2 of 13 in the first half for four points. 

The Wave couldn’t regain its early success and struggled for the remainder of the second half.

UCF would climb out to a double digit lead and despite a run in which Dabney hit a three pointer on a fast break cut the lead single digits, the Wave could never truly gain any momentum late. 

Dabney’s late three was his only made field goal of the game, as the Wave’s leading season scorer finished with 3 points off 1 of 12 shooting from the field. 

Tulane has lost six of the last seven games since beginning the year 13-5. The Wave return to the hardwood Sunday for its second meeting against Connecticut in the XL Center.