ORLANDO, Fla. -- Rodney Purvis scored 18 points, including five 3-pointers, and Connecticut held off a Central Florida second-half rally for a 66-63 win Saturday night.

UConn (12-12, 7-5 American Athletic Conference) led by as much as 18 but then went cold over a nine-minute stretch as UCF used a 14-2 run to tighten the gap to 56-51 with under 2 1/2 minutes to play. But Jalen Adams made a floater in the lane over 7-foot-6 Tacko Fall to spark a 5-0 spurt and stretch the advantage back to double digits, 61-51, with 1:29 left.

UCF's B.J. Taylor fueled the second-half rally, scoring 16 of his 20 points in the final nine minutes, including six of the game's last nine points to keep the Knights within striking distance.

Adams and Christian Vital added 14 points each for UConn, which was 9 of 13 from 3-point range. Kentan Facey had 12 points and Amida Brimah had 12 rebounds.

Taylor finished 6 of 19 from the field. Nick Banyard added 13 points, Tanksley Efianayi had 10 and Fall got 11 rebounds for UCF (15-10, 6-7).