College basketball

Bulls turn a victory over to the Blazers

USF coughs up the ball 28 times and has its losing streak extended to six in an 85-71 loss to UAB.

By JIMMY DEBUTTS
Published January 30, 2005

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Slicing through the lane, Brian Swift prepared for a game-changing layup.

But before USF's senior guard made his final approach the basket, Alabama-Birmingham's Squeaky Johnson stripped the ball. The Blazers then punctuated their 85-71 victory on Saturday at Bartow Arena with a Marques Lewis dunk.

The dunk gave the Blazers a 79-64 lead with 3:54 remaining. The Bulls (8-10, 1-6 C-USA) had an opportunity to trim UAB's lead to 11 before Johnson's steal. Instead, USF was headed for its sixth consecutive loss. Bulls senior Terrence Leather was suspended for the game by coach Robert McCullum for conduct detrimental to the team. Leather, a 6-foot-9 forward, leads USF in scoring (17.7 points per game) and rebounding (8.4).

Without Leather, the Bulls turned to guards Swift and Collin Dennis. Dennis scored 18 of his 25 points in the second half. Swift finished with 20. USF's starting frontcourt combined for 12 points.

UAB's smothering defense forced five USF turnovers in the first four minutes of the second half. The Blazers converted those into 10 points to boost their 42-32 halftime lead to 54-36. They turned 28 USF turnovers into 42 points.

The fastbreaking Blazers extended their lead to 65-45 with 11:42 remaining. The undermanned Bulls were unable to slow UAB's up-tempo offense or establish an interior offensive threat.

The Blazers (15-5, 5-2) sank 55.2 percent of their second-half shots and forced 17 turnovers after halftime. USF shot 38.9 percent from the field in the second half and was outscored 34-24 in the paint.

A rapid-tempo offense propeled the Blazers to a 37-22 lead with 4:01 left in the first half. The Bulls ended the half on a 10-5 run to trim the deficit to 42-32.

The Blazers sank 5-of-13 3-point shots and scored 21 points off 11 USF turnovers in the first half. By sinking 8-of-10 free throws and grabbing nine offensive rebounds in the half, the Bulls stayed close despite their their 34.4 percent field-goal shooting.

Senior guard Marlyn Bryant, who averages 6.2 points, scored eight in the first half to lead the Bulls. He nearly doubled his season rebounding average in the first 20 minutes with seven boards.

Lewis sank 1-of-2 free throws with three seconds left to propel UAB past the Bulls 62-61 on Jan. 8 in the USF Sun Dome.

[Last modified January 30, 2005, 00:11:11]