College basketball

Win brings USF close to one goal

he Bulls defeat East Carolina 60-50 and improve their chances of making the C-USA tournament.

By GREG AUMAN
Published February 20, 2005

TAMPA - The smallest of postseason goals just got a little bit closer to reality, thanks to South Florida's three senior starters.

Needing a win to stay in position to make the Conference USA tournament, the Bulls came through by defeating East Carolina 60-50 Saturday night. Terrence Leather, Brian Swift and Marlyn Bryant scored all but seven of the Bulls' points before a Sun Dome crowd of 4,029. "The three of us, we talked a whole lot (last) week about how this nucleus has to be the one to get everybody else going," said Swift, who had 17 points. "We have to set the tone for the rest of the team. We have to set the standard. It starts with us."

The three seniors stood out together, all the way down to the black-and-green Nikes they wore as their teammates wore all-black shoes. Leather (23 points, 14 rebounds) and Bryant (13 and 11) had double doubles and the Bulls played their best defensive game of the season.

"Defensively, we were outstanding," coach Robert McCullum said. "We defended them about as well as you can defend. I thought that was the difference in the game."

Only 12 of C-USA's 14 teams make the conference tournament in Memphis, and the Bulls (11-13, 4-9), 11th in the league, have the tiebreaker advantage against the three lowest teams in the standings. ECU (8-17, 3-10) and Tulane (9-14, 3-9) would both have to win twice to keep the Bulls from going to Memphis.

In completing a season sweep of the Pirates, USF held ECU to 30.9 percent shooting, the lowest for a Bulls opponent this season. After the Pirates cut USF's lead to 30-26 early in the second half, the Bulls held them to 1-of-16 shooting over the next 12 minutes, extending their lead to 13.

ECU cut the lead to 53-48 with 2:32 left, but the Bulls hit their next four free throws to put the game away. Forward Corey Rouse and guard Mike Cook scored 11 each to lead the Pirates.

Swift called out his teammates' effort after a 68-50 loss at Houston on Wednesday, and Thursday's practice was so bad McCullum and his staff left early, leaving players to run the last 45 minutes. Leather said Swift's comments were justified and gave the team a needed wakeup call.

"As a leader, you know what your team needs to do, and when they're not performing to that level, night in and night out, why not call someone out?" Leather said. "What he did, I think that cut a switch on, turned a light on in some of the players' heads to try to step it up for the seniors."

Another small victory is that the Bulls cannot finish last in C-USA, where league coaches picked them in the preseason poll.

"Once you get there (to Memphis), there's no pressure. You weren't expected to get there anyway," McCullum said. "We were picked last in the league, I remind you. ... If we keep defending the way we did tonight, we'll have a chance."

[Last modified February 20, 2005, 00:54:14]