South Florida beats Youngstown State 72-54

[IAA Fan]

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) -- Victor Rudd posted season highs of 16 points and 16 rebounds to lead South Florida to a 72-54 victory over Youngstown State on Tuesday night.

Anthony Collins added 14 points and Toarlyn Fitzpatrick finished with 11 for South Florida (6-3).

''When I rebound, everything else comes easy,'' Rudd said. ''I put emphasis on that. I want to be the leading rebounder for the rest of the year, so I've got to go get them.''

Kendrick Perry led Youngstown State (6-5) with 15 points before fouling out with 5:49 left on the game clock. Bob Hain scored 11 off the bench for the Penguins, who were hoping to extend a three-game winning streak.

Youngstown State led 45-39 early in the second half before South Florida took control with a 13-2 run and continued to pull away.

''In that one stretch, we missed two layups, two foul shots and an open 3,'' Youngstown State coach Jerry Slocum said. ''You're not coming out on somebody's floor and beating a good basketball team without being able to contribute and make shots like that.''

Perry connected four times from long range in the first half, but it took his driving layup at the buzzer to even the score at 39. Rudd had 10 points and eight rebounds at the break.

''We came out of the gate and they were beating us down the floor,'' South Florida coach Stan Heath said. ''And that's all we're talking about is, 'Hey, we're out of shape. I'm going to run the heck out of you guys until we get back in shape. That's my fault.' It seemed like after that we got back in better shape, so I guess we don't have to worry about that.''

[IAA Fan]

Did anyone see or hear the game? We were beating them in the first half, then started to lose it in the first half of second period, then did not make a single basket for 10-minutes.

[HappyPenguin]

We looked pretty good in the first half. Eargle with some nice blocks and KP with some looong 3's.

Poor shooting and decision making after the break lead to a sizable deficit. USF played better and pulled away. I stopped watching with about 8 minutes to go when it became clear they weren't going to make a run at them.

I'm no hoops expert but for my money we looked like we belonged at their level the first half, for whatever that's worth.

[ysubigred]

We looked pretty good in the first half. Eargle with some nice blocks and KP with some looong 3's.

Poor shooting and decision making after the break lead to a sizable deficit. USF played better and pulled away. I stopped watching with about 8 minutes to go when it became clear they weren't going to make a run at them.

I'm no hoops expert but for my money we looked like we belonged at their level the first half, for whatever that's worth.

  Or football either! Happy holiday's to the happy family!! see you next year for a run at the NC 

[HappyPenguin]

We looked pretty good in the first half. Eargle with some nice blocks and KP with some looong 3's.

Poor shooting and decision making after the break lead to a sizable deficit. USF played better and pulled away. I stopped watching with about 8 minutes to go when it became clear they weren't going to make a run at them.

I'm no hoops expert but for my money we looked like we belonged at their level the first half, for whatever that's worth.

  Or football either! Happy holiday's to the happy family!! see you next year for a run at the NC 

Same to you YBR....with 24 going next year maybe we'll get 4 in this time around.