South Florida Bulls vs DePaul Blue Demons Match Player Stats On Apr 05, 2019

David Collins scored 19 points, Justin Brown had 12 and Laquincy Rideau added 10 to guide visiting South Florida to a 77-65 victory against DePaul in the decisive third game of the College Basketball Invitational championship series on Friday night in Chicago.

Balance steered the Bulls (24-14) to the program's first postseason tournament title since the 1989-90 team captured the Sun Belt Conference tournament championship. Nine different players scored for South Florida; only seven players logged minutes for DePaul.

DePaul (19-17) drew within 41-40 on a Femi Olujobi layup with 17:41 left, but was unable to ever even the score during a game in which it never led. The otherwise fatigued Blue Demons received a boost from the return of sophomore guard Devin Gage, who scored a team-high 19 points in his first action since landing in the concussion protocol upon sustaining a head injury in the tournament quarterfinals.

Still, a Game 2 injury to starting senior guard Eli Cain took its toll on DePaul on both sides of the floor. Cain sustained a dislocated wrist and elbow late in the first half of the second game, but DePaul held on for an overtime victory to even the series.

Olujobi notched a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds for the Blue Demons and Max Strus (16 points) and Paul Reed (11) also finished in double figures. Often potent from beyond the 3-point line during their tournament run, the Blue Demons shot just 20 percent (4-for-20) from deep on Friday.

South Florida led 39-34 at halftime after DePaul erased much of what had been a 17-point Bulls lead just before the break.

A Xavier Castaneda jumper at the 6:15 mark of the first half put South Florida ahead 37-20, but DePaul surged back into the game with a 14-2 run. Strus, who had been held scoreless to that point while fighting through consistent double teams, scored 10 points during the spurt, including a pair of treys.

The Bulls shot 41.7 percent (15-for-36) in the first half compared to 40.9 percent (9-for-22) for the Blue Demons. South Florida had a 26-13 rebounding advantage in the first 20 minutes, but also was whistled for 13 personal fouls compared to just four for DePaul.

Collins snagged a team-best eight rebounds for South Florida and also had five assists in the game.

--Field Level Media