Alexis Yetna and Michael Durr combined for 30 points and 22 rebounds to lead South Florida to a 74-71 win over the Cincinnati Bearcats Wednesday night in Fifth Third Arena. It was the Bulls first victory at Cincinnati since Feb. 25, 1988.
Yetna scored a game high 16 points and grabbed a game high 12 rebounds. Durr had 14 points and 10 rebounds. Xavier Castaneda provided 14 crucial points and steady floor leadership while the Bulls starting back court was saddled with foul trouble. David Collins added 11 points for the Bulls.
Cincinnati guard Keith Williams led the Bearcats with 15 points – 12 in an eight-minute span in the second half. Chris Vogt and Tari Eason both added 13 points. Eason had nine rebounds to lead the Bearcats while Vogt only scored three points in the second half.
BullsInsider.com covered the game and here is our Instant Analysis:
IT WAS OVER WHEN: Jeremiah Davenport missed a three-pointer and Castaneda grabbed the rebound with two-seconds left on the clock.
HE STOLE THE SHOW: Yetna and Durr were terrific tonight. Yetna scored on all three levels and was 2-of-5 on his three-point attempts. Durr did all of his scoring inside the arc and had three dunks. Both Yetna and Durr were an efficient 6-of-10 from the floor.
THE STAT DOESN’T LIE: The Bulls shot 41.2 percent on the perimeter. Three players made two threes. It is the second time this season (Stetson) that USF has connected on better than 40 percent of its three-point field goal attempts.
WHAT A PLAY: Yetna rebounded a Jeremiah Davenport shot and handed the ball to Murphy. The freshman took off with his elite speed, took the ball to the rack to score on a layup, to put USF up by three at score 34-31, and draw a personal foul on David DeJulius.
THE BOTTOM LINE: They almost let it slip away but USF wins its first conference game for the second time under Brian Gregory. More importantly the Bulls beat a conference opponent that most people, myself included, didn’t expect them to defeat. That is how you move a program forward. USF will next take the court Tue. Dec. 22 when it plays Wichita State in the Yuengling Center.
