National Basketball Association
South Florida 58, East Carolina 50
When: 7:00 PM ET, Saturday, January 3, 2015
Where: USF Sun Dome, Tampa, Florida
Officials:
# Jim Burr, # Kevin Mathis, # Ted Valentine
Attendance:
3184
By SportsDirect Inc.
USF 58, East Carolina 50: Freshman center Ruben Guerrero tied career highs with 13 points and seven rebounds to lead the host Bulls over the Pirates in an American Athletic Conference contest.
Corey Allen Jr. added 12 points and Chris Perry registered 10 for USF (7-8, 1-1 AAC), which won for just the second time in its last nine games after a 5-1 start. Anthony Collins went scoreless while missing all four of his field-goal attempts but dished out a game-high seven assists for the Bulls, who blocked eight shots in the game -- three by Guerrero.
B.J. Tyson scored 16 points off the bench to lead East Carolina (7-8, 0-2), which lost its second straight game while neutralizing a two-game winning streak. Terry Whisnant tallied 11 points for the Pirates, who shot 35.3 percent from the field and fell well short of their 70-point scoring average.
USF snapped a 14-14 first half tie with the second of two free throws from Nehemias Morillo, followed by a layup by Bo Zeigler to take a 17-14 lead. East Carolina fired back with a 13-4 burst that featured 3-pointers from Lance Tejada, Whisnant and Caleb White on the way to a 27-25 edge at halftime.
After the break, following an 8-4 spurt from the Pirates, the Bulls took control, using a Dinero Mercurius 3-pointer to spark a 25-9 explosion, highlighted by seven points apiece from Guerrero and Zeigler, to open up a 54-44 lead with 1:48 to play. White stopped the bleeding for East Carolina, striking from beyond the arc with 1:37 to go but USF was able to hold off a comeback, sinking 4-of-6 from the free-throw line in the final 1:28 to secure the win.
GAME NOTEBOOK: USF allowed a season-low 50 points after entering play yielding an AAC-high 71.8 points per game. ... White, who entered play as East Carolina's leading scorer (13.5), finished with seven points on 2-of-8 shooting. ... The Bulls shot a mere 3-of-19 from 3-point range, worsening their AAC-worst proficiency from beyond the arc.
Top Game Performances
| East Carolina |
|
South Florida |
|
B.J. Tyson 16 |
Scoring |
Ruben Guerrero 13 |
|
Lance Tejada 3 |
Assists |
Anthony Collins 7 |
|
Michel-Ofik Nzege 5 |
Rebounds |
Bo Zeigler 8 |
|
B.J. Tyson 3 |
Free Throws Made |
Nehemias Morillo 3 |
|
Antonio Robinson 1 |
Steals |
Corey Allen Jr. 2 |
|
Kanu Aja 1 |
Blocks |
Ruben Guerrero 3 |
Team Stats Summary
| Team |
Points |
FG% |
3PM-3PA |
FTM-FTA |
Assists |
Rebounds |
Blocks |
Steals |
Turnovers |
| East Carolina
|
50 |
35.3 |
6-15 |
8-11 |
11 |
28 |
3 |
4 |
11 |
| South Florida
|
58 |
43.1 |
3-19 |
11-18 |
11 |
35 |
8 |
8 |
10 |
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