Typifying the grit and hustle of DaQuan Jeffries was a play down the stretch that was a dagger to Central Florida.

On the play, Jeffries, came up short on a three, then followed his shot by outhustling the Knights for the rebound, and then followed with a dunk, and Tulsa’s lead continued to climb.

Jeffries scored 14 of his team-high 19 points in the second half to come off the bench and lead Tulsa to a critical 70-61 victory over UCF in front of an announced crowd of 3,342 at the Reynolds Center Wednesday night.

The bucket by Jeffries on the aforementioned play increased Tulsa’s lead to six at 59-53 with 5:27 remaining. It boosted what looked like a down-to-the-wire game into a contest where Tulsa pulled away for a somewhat comfortable win where the Knights would never get closer.

“DaQuan was outstanding off the bench,” said TU coach Frank Haith of Jeffries, who finished six of eight both from the field and from the free thow line, as well as two blocks, two assists and three rebounds.. “It was just all in all a great win.”

Tulsa (17-10, 10-5 AAC) also benefited from 17 second half points from leading scorer Junior Etou, which was quite a comeback after being held scoreless in the first half.

With Etou and Jeffries rocking for 31 of Tulsa's 35 second half points, Tulsa was able to overcome a three-point deficit where the Golden Hurricane trailed 45-42 to UCF (17-10, 8-7) with a little more the 12 minutes to play.

But Jeffries followed with two three-point plays, and Tulsa never again trailed. The first started when Jeffries blocked a shot and former Edmond Santa Fe teammate Curran Scott rebounded, then raced down the court and found Jeffries underneath the basket. Jeffries finished, was fouled, and his subsequent free throw tied the game at 45-45 with 12:01 left.

“If I make one great play I get that energy,” Jeffries said about his run of terrific plays in the second half.

Then Jeffries followed with a shot behind the arc 38 seconds later, and Tulsa led 48-45. Etou scored the next five points and the lead was 53-50 with eight minutes remaining. But Dayon Griffin’s fourth three-pointer tied the game up at 53-53 with 7:38 left.

Then Sterling Taplin converted on a layup that was goaltended with 7:09 to break the tie, and TU would never again trail. A layup by Jeffries on an assist from Taplin followed, and Tulsa led 57-53 with 6:16 remaining.

Tulsa would finish off a 10-0 run on layup by Taplin and Tulsa led 63-53 with 2:41 remaining. The Knights did cut the lead to six points with 1:39 on the clock after a steal and layup where it appeared Taplin hurt his ankle.

The scary moment where Taplin left game made Tulsa fans extremely uneasy, but things calmed down after two Etou free throws and Taplin re-entered the game with 45.7 seconds left to throw the inbounds pass. A successful inbounds and two free throws by Jeffries followed, and Tulsa was again up by 10.

Both teams were smoking hot in a first half that Tulsa led 35-32 going into halftime. TU made 12 of 18 shots from the field, (66.7 percent), including five of nine (55.6 percent) on three pointers in the half. UCF was 13 of 24 (54.2 percent) from the field and five of 11 (45.5 percent) on threes in the half.

Both teams cooled off after halftime, with Tulsa still holding the edge. TU shot 44 percent and UCF shot 32 percent in the second half, finishing the game at 53.5 percent and 42.9 percent, respectively.

Tulsa’s first half shooting performance was amazing considering Etou and Jeffries combined to make only one of three shots from the field in the half. The rest of the team hit 11 of 15 in the half (73.3 percent). Lawson Korita made all three of his shots in the half and led Tulsa with nine points at halftime. Overall, nine Tulsa players scored.

“I love it. I think it’s great that we have a number of guys who can score,” Haith said.

Tulsa made its free throws down the stretch, finishing at 16 of 19 (84.2 percent) for the game, including 10 of 11 in the second half (90.9 percent), while UCF made 10 of 14 (71.4 percent) from the line. Tulsa out-rebounded UCF 28-22.

B.J. Taylor led all scorers with 26 points for UCF, which included 16 in the second half, and four of seven on three-pointers.

On a night where the crowd was smaller than normal due to forecasts of inclement weather and slippery road conditions, Haith was happy that the TU fans in attendance were boisterous and spurred Tulsa on down the stretch.

“I would like to thank our fans for coming out tonight,” Haith said. “Obviously, the weather made it difficult for some people to get here, but I want to thank the ones who got here. It really made a difference.”