CINCINNATI, OHIO, DEC. 16, 2020 (AP) – Alexis Yetna had 16 points and 12 rebounds, leading South Florida to a 74-71 win against Cincinnati on Wednesday night in an American Athletic Conference opener.
Tari Eason hit a 3-pointer with 41 seconds remaining to pull the Bearcats to 73-71. Michael Durr (Atlanta) split a pair of free throws for the Bulls and Cincinnati’s Jeremiah Davenport missed a 3-pointer to end it.
Durr finished with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Xavier Castaneda (Chicago) also had 14 points for South Florida (5-2, 1-0 American Athletic Conference), which earned its fourth consecutive victory. David Collins (Youngstown, Ohio) added 11 points.
Keith Williams had 15 points for the Bearcats (2-3, 0-1). Chris Vogt added 13 points and three assists. Eason, a 6-8 freshman from Seattle, had 13 points including a dunk early in the second half. He also had nine rebounds.
USF led by 12 points after a layup from Yetna put the Bulls ahead 68-56 with just under nine minutes remaining in the second half. Williams scored the next 12 points and the Bearcats held USF scoreless for over four minutes to pull even at the 4:30 mark.
Two possessions later, Yetna found Durr for an easy dunk to halt the run and put the Bulls back on top by two. One free throw from Durr and two more by Yetna gave USF a five-point advantage before Eason’s late trey.
Notable
• USF snapped an 11-game losing streak to the Bearcats and won at Cincinnati for the first time since 1988.
• Wednesday was the first time since Jan. 26, 2019 (55 games) that USF had two players with a double-double.
• Justin Brown moved into fifth-place on USF’s all-time three-pointers made list with 166 career treys.
Key Stats
2 – USF held Cincinnati to only two made three-pointers and 16.7 percent (2-for-12) shooting in the second half.
40 – USF shot over 40 percent from the field (47.6 percent) and from three-point range (41.2 percent)
20 – USF received 20 points from its bench, including 14 from Xavier Castaneda.
Up Next
USF continues American Athletic Conference play Tuesday at 7 p.m. when the Bulls welcome Wichita State to the Yuengling Center.
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About USF Men’s Basketball
The USF men’s basketball team is led by head coach Brian Gregory. On March 22, 2017, Gregory was introduced as the 10th head coach in program history. He previously led programs at Georgia Tech (2011-16) and Dayton (2003-11). Gregory spent nearly a decade as an assistant coach under Michigan State’s Hall of Fame head coach Tom Izzo and helped the Spartans win the 2000 NCAA National Championship. Gregory owns over 300 career head coaching wins and six postseason appearances, including the 2010 NIT Championship. In his second season at the helm of the Bulls, Gregory led the team to the best win turnaround in the NCAA, the most single-season wins in school history and the 2019 College Basketball Invitational championship.
USF has retired three numbers in its 47-year history: Chucky Atkins (12), Charlie Bradley (30) and Radenko Dobras (31). The Bulls have earned three NCAA tournament bids, appeared in the NIT eight times and won the 2019 College Basketball Invitational.
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