South Florida (24-14) built a 17-point lead and withstood a furious DePaul comeback that cut the lead to one before emerging with a 77-65 victory to win the Roman College Basketball Invitational Championship.

Three Bulls scored in double figures led by David Collins who scored 19 points, Justin Brown had 12 and Laquincy Rideau added 10 points.

DePaul had four players in double figures led by Devin Gage who scored 19 points.

RunningTheBulls.com was at the game and here is our Instant Analysis:

IT WAS OVER WHEN: When Xavier Castaneda hit two clutch free throws with 40.4 seconds remaining in the game to give USF a 74-64 lead.

HE STOLE THE SHOW: Collins played like a wily veteran. He made 54.5 percent of his field goal attempts, grabbed eight rebounds, dished five assists and grabbed two steals.

THE STAT DOESN’T LIE: USF held DePaul to 26.5 percent field goal shooting in the second half.

WHAT A PLAY: Collins cut towards Rideau to receive a pass, Rideau set a ball screen and Collins pump faked Devin Gage in the air. Collins leaned into Gage made the three-pointer and headed to the line. It was part of an 8-0 run and gave the Bulls a 64-51 lead with 5:47 to play.

THE BOTTOM LINE: USF finishes the second season of the Brian Gregory Era on a high note with a championship! After losing four of its last five regular season games, the Bulls regrouped and won five of its six CBI games and have a new trophy to put in the USF trophy case. USF won 14 more games than it did last season – besting UC Irvine for the best win improvement in NCAA Division I basketball – plus won a single-season school-record 24 games. The future definitely looks good for USF men’s basketball.