ORLANDO, Fla. -- Brandon Mahan scored 12 of his team-high 19 points in the last five minutes to help UCF hold off Wichita State, 71-66, Tuesday night at Addition Financial Arena.
 
Tyson Etienne scored 17 of his game-high 26 in the second half for WSU (12-9, 3-6 American), which nearly overcame a 16-point second-half deficit.
 
Mahan was 6-of-10 from the field and secured nine rebounds to keep UCF (14-8, 6-6) in front. His final stretch included a four-point play and a pair of three-point plays, the last with 26 seconds on the clock and the Knights clinging to a 66-64 lead.
 
The win was UCF's first-ever in the series. The Shockers had won all eight previous meetings, including an 84-79 decision less than two weeks ago in Wichita.
 
UCF sank 11 on 29 three-point attempts (.380), five of them by Darin Green Jr., who finished with 17 points.
 
Helped by a 5-of-12 line from Etienne, WSU sank 11 of its 26 three-point tries (.420).
 
Craig Porter Jr. finished with 14 points, six rebounds, five assists and three steals. He was 2-for-2 from distance.
 
Dexter Dennis sank all three of his three-point looks on his way to 11 points and six boards.
 
The Shockers made their first three triples of the night to build a quick 11-2 lead. They scored 15 points in the game's first five minutes but managed just 14 more the rest of the half, due in part to 10 first-half turnovers.
 
The Knights outscored the Shockers 24-6 over the next 10 minutes to go up by double-figures and led by 14 at the intermission. They hosts were 8-of-17 from three at that stage but made just three more the rest of the way.
 
Down 16 (47-31) with 18:08 to play, WSU began its comeback bid.
 
Etienne scored the last seven points in a 13-0 Shocker run that sliced UCF's lead down to 49-47 at the 13:22-mark.
 
That was as close as the Shockers would get. Down the stretch, they had four possessions with an opportunity to tie or take lead and came up empty on all of them.
 
Mahan's first three-point play nudged the Knight lead back to eight with 5:09 to go.
 
His four-point play with 3:33 remaining also proved critical after the Shockers had again closed to within four.
 
Etienne made back-to-back threes in a span of 32 seconds to give WSU new life with 1:33 to play, down just 66-64.
 
Both teams came up empty on their next possessions.
 
The Shockers appeared to catch a break with 27 seconds on the clock when the ball slipped from UCF guard Darius Perry's hands on his way to the basket, but officials ruled it had last been touched by WSU.
 
UCF made the most of the extra possession with Perry threading an inbound pass to Mahan for a reverse layup and a foul. His free throw upped the Knight lead to 69-64.
 
Etienne converted two free throws with 17 seconds left to make it a one-possession game, but Mahan countered with two makes of his own to ice it.
 

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NOTABLE:

• Etienne recorded his seventh 20-point game of the season and the 19^th of his Shocker career.
• With his five three-pointers Etienne (186 career threes) needs just 10 more to match Jason Perez for fifth on the school's all-time triples list.
• Etienne needs just 43 more points to reach 1,000 for his career. Dennis is 66 points away.
• Dennis took over sole possession of seventh-place on the all-time three-point list (167) after starting the day tied with Conner Frankamp.
• Craig Porter Jr.'s streak of 11-straight games with a block came to an end. It was the longest by a Shocker guard in the 42 years that WSU has tracked game-by-game block statistics.
• WSU lost for a February game for the first time under Isaac Brown (6-1).
• 16 points would have been the fourth-largest second-half comeback by a Shocker team (1975-pr.) and 14 would have tied for the second-largest halftime deficit in a win.

UP NEXT:
WSU is back home Saturday evening to face South Florida at Charles Koch Arena (7 p.m. CT, ESPNU).