Colleges

Bulls battle but fail to finish

USF loses its seventh straight but is encouraged by a strong road effort.

By DARRYL MELLEMA
Published January 30, 2008

ADVERTISEMENT [AP photo] USF's Dominique Jones, who scored 15, commits an offensive foul against Marquette's Maurice Acker in the second half. [AP photo] USF's Kentrell Gransberry, getting fouled, had 15 points and 15 boards but fouled out.

MILWAUKEE - Yes, USF's losing streak continued Tuesday, a skid that now stands at seven games.

But the Bulls put on some kind of second-half fight against No.17 Marquette before losing 62-54 in front of 16,774 at the Bradley Center.

Twice in the second half, USF (10-11, 1-7 Big East) tied the Golden Eagles, though the Bullsnever took the lead. Eventually, Marquette (15-4, 5-3) pulled away for the victory.

"I thought our guys battled hard," Bulls coach Stan Heath said. "Until the four-minute mark, I thought we had a chance. We had a chance to steal something here."

USF led for most of the first half and stayed close before Marquette's Stanley Matthews hit three late 3-pointers that sealed the victory. The Bulls, in their third season in the Big East, are still seeking their first conference road win.

"I felt that we were playing hard," USF guard Dominique Jones said. "When we're playing hard, stuff like that happens. I just feel like we've got to play hard like that all the time."

Jones said Saturday's home game with St. John's is a "must win."

"Stuff like this happens," Jones said. "The main thing is that everybody in the locker room will tell you that we got better from this game. We improved. As long as we're getting better and taking good things from the game - I'm not saying we'll take a loss, but it doesn't feel as bad as it would feel if we didn't play hard."

Jones and Kentrell Gransberry both finished with 15 points. Gransberry - who fouled out with 4:06 left, just before Marquette's closing run - added 15 rebounds as the Bulls' main inside force. Offensively, he had to bide his time to find openings.

"They were double-teaming me, so (Heath) just said to find the open guy," Gransberry said. "That's all you can do when you're getting double-teamed and then hope your teammates can hit open shots. That's all I can ask of them."

Neither team got its running tempo flowing. From an eight-point halftime deficit, USF slowly came back and finally tied it at 39 with 8:04 to play on a Chris Howard free throw.

Moments later, a Jones free throw tied the score at 42.

"We wanted to do the best job we could taking away their easy baskets," Heath said. "We wanted to pick and choose our fast break opportunities."

Even after falling behind, USF stayed close until Matthews' 3-pointers helped build a 52-43 Marquette lead.

No. 17 Marquette 62 , USF 54

[Last modified January 30, 2008, 00:06:29]