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Bulls Falter Down The Stretch

Tribune photo by MICHAEL SPOONEYBARGER

South Florida's Chris Howard drives past Villanova's Corey Stokes during the second half.

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By BRETT McMURPHY | The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 25, 2009

TAMPA - This hasn't been exactly the best 48-hour stretch for the University of South Florida's basketball program.

On Thursday, a starting forward suffered a season-ending knee injury, and late Friday night two key contributors for next season were arrested on charges of possession of marijuana.

It didn't get any better Saturday.

The Bulls kept up with 20th-ranked Villanova until the final minutes before falling 70-61 before an announced Sun Dome crowd of 4,245. The culprits for USF were familiar: inability to make key plays down the stretch, costly turnovers and poor free-throw shooting.

"To beat a team like that, a few things have to happen," USF coach Stan Heath said. "We have to make some of those open shots we get ... you got to make your free throws, and when they have those rebounds off a free throw and you're in position, you have to get them."

With 9:31 remaining, USF led 48-47. From that point, the Bulls couldn't come up with the necessary plays as leading scorer Dominique Jones picked up his fourth foul with 7:09 remaining and fouled out with 5:28 left.

In the final 9:31, USF missed eight of 13 field goals, five of seven free throws (including the front end of two one-and-ones) and committed four turnovers to allow the Wildcats (15-4, 3-3 Big East) to finish on a 23-13 run.

Jones, who was averaging 26 points in his previous four games, had 11 points. The Bulls (7-12, 2-5), were led by freshman Gus Gilchrist's 18 points and seven rebounds. Chris Howard had 15 points and Jesus Verdejo, in his first game since suffering a concussion on Jan. 17, had 13 points but was 2-for-11 from 3-point range.

The Bulls, who were coming off Tuesday's victory against DePaul, failed in their latest attempt to win consecutive Big East games for the first time since joining the conference four years ago.

And it won't get any easier without senior forward B.J. Ajayi, (3.7 points, 4.7 rebounds), who suffered a torn ACL on Thursday.

"It's going to be tough," Howard said. "He's a guy that can defend in the low post very well. At the same time, as Coach told us, it's the next man up. Someone has to step up and look at it as a challenge more than anything."

Villanova's bench outscored USF's 25-1. Heath gave a one-word answer on how the Bulls' bench could improve: "Recruit."

"What do you want me to say?" Heath said. "You guys see it. You have eye glasses on.

"We have guys on the bench that can give us different things. We don't have the luxury of our bench being a scoring bench."

The Bulls finished 55.2 percent from the free-throw line (16 of 29) and shot 35.2 percent from the field (19 of 54), including 28.1 percent (9-for-32) in the second half.

Reporter Brett McMurphy can be reached at (813) 259-7928.

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