Field Level Media
Jan 19, 2019
No. 21 Houston survived a ragged foul-fest and ended South Florida's home winning streak at seven games with a 69-60 victory Saturday night in an America Athletic Conference matchup at Tampa, Fla.
The win kept the Cougars (18-1, 5-1 AAC) atop the AAC standings along with Cincinnati. UCF, Temple, and Memphis each are 4-1 and a half-game back of the two leaders.
Forward Breaon Brady led Houston with 13 points, while guard Armoni Brooks added 11 and guard Nate Hinton 10.
Guard David Collins scored 23 to lead the Bulls (12-6, 2-4 AAC), who lost their third in a row but their first at home since an 84-81 setback to The Citadel on Nov. 24.
Forward Alexis Yetna had 12 points for the Bulls, all in the first half.
Neither team got much from its leading scorer. Houston's Corey Davis (15.7 ppg) was held to just six points, and USF's LaQuincy Rideau (14.6) finished with eight.
The two teams combined for 62 fouls and shot a combined 76 free throws. The Cougars were 28-of-35 from the free throw line to USF's 27-of-41.
One of the nation's top defensive teams, the Cougars held the Bulls to 14-of-44 shooting from the floor (31.8 percent).
After leading 35-25 at the break, the Cougars were coasting with a 47-31 cushion early in the second half before the Bulls went on a 12-0 run to get within 47-43 midway through the period.
The Cougars then scored five quick points to regain control and had a double-digit edge, 57-47, with 7:01 left in the game. The Bulls managed to get the gap down to six points in the closing seconds.
Houston closed out a ragged first half by outscoring the Bulls 16-6 over the final 6:22 of the period. The two teams combined for 27 personal fouls in the opening 20 minutes, and USF went through shooting droughts that lasted for six and seven minutes.
--Field Level Media