College basketball

USF whips Tulane to gain crucial ground

The Bulls are 11th in the Conference USA standings. Only the top 12 go to the tournament.

By THOMAS SIMONETI
Published February 6, 2005

TAMPA - Terrence Leather and the rest of the Bulls took a step toward securing a spot in the Conference USA tournament by beating Tulane 86-66 Saturday night at the Sun Dome.

The senior forward had 26 points and 12 rebounds as the Bulls picked up a crucial win against the Green Wave - a team they play only once and over whom they own the tiebreaker should the teams have the same conference record at tournament time.

The win put the Bulls in 11th place in the conference at 3-6. The top 12 teams are invited to the conference tournament in March. The Bulls also own a tiebreaker over Southern Miss, a team they beat 72-61 Wednesday.

"Every win just gives another notch towards securing a spot in Memphis," said USF coach Robert McCullum, who won just his fourth C-USA game. "I want so badly for our seniors to end their careers in Memphis, at least in Memphis. From where we've come, to be able to do that in and of itself will be an accomplishment."

It was also USF's first conference win at home in five tries this season and its first in the Sun Dome since Dec. 29.

"It's huge," said guard Brian Swift, who had the first double double of his career. "We always talk about it all year, protecting your home turf. We haven't done a good job of that at home. So to come back and get the confidence back we need to win home games and to get the confidence back in our fans is big."

McCullum said the win was the most complete performance he has seen from his team in C-USA play.

Down 11-1 to start the game, USF used a stingy defense and a barrage of scorers to get back into it and, eventually, run away with it.

Tulane (2-7 C-USA) turned the ball over 19 times and the Bulls capitalized with 30 points. Behind nine steals and a 9-0 run, the Bulls built a 39-31 lead by halftime.

"We gave them too many buckets off of those turnovers," Tulane coach Shawn Finney said.

USF had five players in double figures for the first time this season. In addition to Leather's 26, Marlyn Bryant had a career-high 19, Swift had 12 points and Collin Dennis and Marius Prekevicius each had 10.

A dunk in the first half gave Leather his 1,000th career point.

[Last modified February 6, 2005, 00:23:11]