TAMPA—
The University of South Florida Bulls defeated the DePaul Blue Devils 63-61 in the first game of the Roman College Basketball Invitational final on Monday. The Blue Devils made it close at the end when Eli Cain sank a three-point shot to tie the game at 61 with 12 seconds left, but David Collins made a clutch layup to secure the win for the Bulls.
USF began the game strong, with a 13-5 run five minutes into the game. DePaul would cut that deficit to three with 14 minute to go in the half after a Paul reed three-pointer and a layup by Cain. A layup and a free throw by LaQuincy Rideau followed by a three-pointer by Justin Brown would push the USF lead up to nine, 24-15, with 9:13 to go in the first half. The Bulls would maintain a close, but controlling lead throughout the remainder of the half, going into the break 31-25.
Midway through the second half, USF would build up their biggest lead of the game. Back-to-back three-pointers by Collins gave the Bulls an 11-point, 50-39 lead. A pair of free throws by Lyrik Shreiner kicked off a 12-1 scoring run by the Blue Devils, which tied the game for the first time, at 51 with 6:25 on the game clock. A layup by Rideau gave the Bulls a 53-51 lead, but Max Strus sank a three-pointer two minutes later that gave DePaul their first lead of the game, 54-53. The game would be tied three more times, the final being 61 with 12 seconds to go. The Bulls called a timeout with 7 seconds on the clock, setting up Collins’ layup for the lead with 1.6 seconds left in the game. DePaul would get one last shot, but came up short.
Collins was the scoring leader for the Bulls, finishing with 23 points and six assists. Rideau was second on the team in scoring with 15 points. Alexis Yetna was the final Bull in double-digits with ten points, narrowly missing his 15th double-double of the season with eight rebounds. Also pulling down eight rebounds was Michael Durr.
Cain had a team-leading 19 points. He was followed closely by Strus, who scored 17 points, and Femi Olujobi, who finished with ten. Reed led the team with 12 rebounds.
The Bulls edged the Blue Devils in shooting, making 42% to 38%, while DePaul had the advantage in the paint, 24-18.
After the game, USF head coach, Brian Gregory, credited his team’s defense for the win.
“Our defense was good enough to win us the game and our offense made just enough plays,” said Gregory. “Great defensive effort on the glass by us. Plus five on the glass, which was big. Made just enough shots against their length.”
The game featured a noticeably larger crowd than earlier rounds. Announced attendance was 2,735.
“We had a great crowd,” said Gregory. “They were loud. I said it two years ago when we had a pretty good crowd, if we could get it up there with the numbers, this place could be really difficult to play at.
“Our job is to keep producing good teams, so people will support us and come know they are going to watch an exciting team that represents this school and this community in the Tampa Bay area in the right, way and we’re going to do that.”
The CBI format features a best-of-three final round. The final game or games will be played in DePaul’s hometown of Chicago. The two teams will meet again on Wednesday night at 8:00 PM EDT. That game will be broadcast on ESPNU.
