South Florida Comes Painfully Close Again

CINCINNATI - One thought kept running through Deonta Vaughn's head in the final minute: Run, clock, run.

A refreshed Vaughn scored 21 points Wednesday night, and Cincinnati survived three off-target shots in the closing seconds, holding on for a 52-51 victory against South Florida that made the Bearcats (13-12, 8-5 Big East) hold their breaths.

"I was just thinking, 'Please get this minute over with as quick as possible,'" Vaughn said.

South Florida (11-16, 2-13) lost its 27th consecutive conference road game, the nation's longest streak, and fell to 0-23 in Big East road games. The Bulls only have two more chances - at Rutgers on March 1 and at Villanova on March 5 - to avoid a third consecutive winless record in Big East road games.

USF was coming off its most stinging loss in a long string of them. The Bulls went to overtime before losing 74-73 to Connecticut on Saturday, done in by Craig Austrie's running jumper at the buzzer.

This time, they failed to make a shot at the end, setting up another heartache and their 12th loss in the last 13 games.

"We certainly had our chances," Coach Stan Heath said. "We had layups and shots and possessions in the last minute. I thought we could cash in and get it. That's a tough break for us, two in a row."

Guard Dominique Jones dribbled on the baseline while driving to the basket with 12.9 seconds left, a turnover that forced the Bulls to foul. They got another chance when Adam Hrycaniuk missed his first free throw, but Jones missed a driving shot, and Kentrell Gransberry's tip rolled off the rim with 2.7 seconds left.

The ball was knocked out of bounds, giving South Florida one more chance. Jones missed a shot from the right corner at the buzzer.

"It seemed like we were going to pull it out, and it just didn't happen," Heath said.

Jones had 16 points, leaving him 22 shy of the school scoring record for a freshman. Gransberry, a power forward who was the focal point of Cincinnati's defense, had 17 rebounds but only seven points on 2-for-10 shooting.

Neither team led by more than seven points in a back-and-forth game. Cincinnati won despite shooting 34 percent from the field, including 7-for-24 from behind the 3-point arc.

"In the course of the season, you have to win when you're terrible on offense," Coach Mick Cronin said. "I thought our guys did a great job defensively tonight in many ways and just gutted out a win. Sometimes you've got to do that."

Vaughn, who scored a career-low three points on 1-for-7 shooting against St. John's, looked refreshed after the Bearcats' week off between games. He scored 14 in the first half, helping Cincinnati take a 27-24 lead at the break.

"The week off helped everybody mentally and physically," Vaughn said.

The Bearcats double-teamed the 6-foot-9, 270-pound Gransberry, who is the Bulls' leading scorer at 17.2 points per game and was coming of one of his best. Gransberry had 26 points and 15 rebounds in the loss to UConn.

He couldn't get off a clear shot vs. Cincinnati, missing all five of his tries in the first half.

"We double-teamed him," said Hrycaniuk, whose main job was trying to contain the forward. "We had to stop him. One of us couldn't stop him 1-on-1. We did a great job."

Gransberry landed awkwardly on his left ankle after passing out of a trap with 12:18 left in the game, then limped to the bench. He got the ankle taped and returned.