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Bucs' backs against the
wall in scramble for berths
Wire report with staff
contributions
TAMPA — South Florida
gained a leg up on East Carolina in the jousting for Conference USA
Tournament slots as Terrence Leather scored 23 points and grabbed 14
rebounds to lead the Bulls to a 60-50 victory over the Pirates Saturday
night.
Brian Swift added 17
points for USF (11-13, 4-9 Conference USA), which took sole possession
of 11th place in the league, good enough to qualify for a spot in the
conference tournament if the Bulls' place in the pecking order stands
over the final week and half of the regular season.
Combined with their
Wednesday upset of UAB, the loss
left the Pirates with a split in their two-game road swing and dangling
in 13th place in the
14-team league's standings. Only
the top 12 finishers gain spots in the conference tournament.
Marlyn Bryant added 13
points and 11 rebounds to help the Bulls move a game ahead of the
Pirates in the league race.
Bryant gave South Florida
its biggest lead at 49-36 with a jumper with 7 minutes left, but East
Carolina answered with a 12-4 run to cut the deficit to five. However,
the Pirates managed just two more points as the Bulls pulled away.
Mike Cook scored 11 and
Corey Rouse finished with 11 points and 11 rebounds to lead ECU (8-17,
3-10), which has won only once in 11 road games.
Leather had 12 points and
six rebounds in a first half that included six lead changes and ended
with the Bulls leading 28-24.
Two of ECU's remaining
three games are against teams that are also hovering around the fringe
of tournament eligibility.
ECU returns home to face
last-place Southern Miss (10-15, 1-12) on
Wednesday, Feb. 23, and will close out its regular season slate at
12th-place Tulane (9-14, 3-9) on Saturday, Mar. 5.
In between those contests,
the Pirates will host 6th-place Houston ( 17-10, 8-5) on Saturday, Feb.
26.
The conference tournament
will be conducted Mar. 9-12 at the FedEx Forum in Memphis.
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BOX
SCORE South Florida 60,
East Carolina 50
Records: ECU 8-17, 3-10;
USF
11-13, 4-9.
Halftime: USF 28-24.
EAST CAROLINA
Name FG FT
Pts
Rouse 5-11
1-6 11
Badiane 2-6
5-6 9
Kilgore 1-4
0-0 2
Hammonds 1-7
0-0 2
Cook 3-12
5-6 11
McNeil 2-9
3-4 7
Gagnon 0-0
0-0 0
King 1-3
0-0 3
Hart 0-0
0-0 0
Castro 2-3
1-2 5
Totals 17-55 15-24
50
SOUTH FLORIDA
Name FG FT
Pts
Bryant 4-8
5-8 13
Leather 8-18
7-8 23
Jones 2-6
1-3 5
Swift 7-14
2-2 17
Dennis 0-2
2-2 2
Brigman 0-1
0-0 0
Prekevicius 0-1 0-0
0
Holmes 0-1
0-0 0
Diarra 0-0
0-0 0
Totals 21-51 17-23
60
3-Point goals: East
Carolina 1-10 (King 1-3, Kilgore 0-1, Hammonds Jr. 0-3, McNeil
0-3); South Florida 1-6 (Swift 1-2, Dennis 0-1, Holmes 0-1,
Leather 0-1, Prekevicius 0-1).
Fouled out: Rouse.
Rebounds: East Carolina 38
(Rouse 11); South Florida 42 (Leather 14).
Assists: East Carolina 8
(McNeil 5); South Florida 10 (Swift 6).
Total fouls: East Carolina
21, South Florida 21.
Technical fouls: Leather.
Attendance: 4,029.
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02/23/07 10:56 AM
©2005
The Associated Press and Bonesville.net. All
rights rights reserved. This material may
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Bonesville.net contributed to this report.
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