March 6, 2011, South Florida Bulls-St. John's Red Storm men's college basketball game story for the Tampa Tribune
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College Sports
St. John's storms past USF in Big East finale
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
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Published: March 5, 2011
Updated: 03/05/2011 11:12 pm
NEW YORK - Often times, the difference between winning teams and losing teams is microscopic. The disparity comes down to which team makes mistakes.
South Florida was more than competitive with No. 15 St. John's for 30 minutes Saturday night. It was in the final 10 minutes that the Bulls demonstrated why they will watch the Red Storm and 67 other programs participate in the NCAA Tournament.
There was Jarrid Famous inadvertently tipping in a Dwight Hardy free throw attempt to gales of laughter from the sellout crowd at Carnesseca Arena. Hugh Robertson had a breakaway jam, only to have the attempt blocked from behind by D.J. Kennedy when the Bulls junior guard/forward slowed to showboat. Moments later, Toarlyn Fitzpatrick found himself with the ball 30 feet from the basket, only to be stripped by Sean Evans, leading to a breakaway dunk that all but decided the game.
The Red Storm took advantage of South Florida's second-half breakdown, handing the Bulls a 72-56 loss in the Big East regular-season finale. USF (9-22, 3-15) fell to 1-6 all-time against St. John's (20-10, 12-6).
USF's loss, coupled with Providence's 75-74 win against Rutgers, means the Bulls are the No. 15 seed in the Big East Tournament. The Bulls will play No. 11 seed Villanova on Tuesday night at 7. The Wildcats finished 21-10 but were 9-9 in conference, including an 83-71 win against USF in their only matchup this season.
Kennedy and Augustus Gilchrist tied for the game high with 16 points. Shaun Noriega added 14 points, while Famous chipped in with 10.
Big East Player of the Year candidate Hardy scored 14 for St. John's, while Justin Brownlee had 13, Paris Horne scored 11 and Evans finished with nine.
The Bulls led 32-30 at halftime after turning the game into a half-court affair. USF's 2-3 zone bothered the Red Storm, who missed 15 of 26 shots in the first 20 minutes.
The ball movement was crisp and led to open 3-point attempts for Noriega. He made three of 12 attempts from the field and three of nine from 3-point range. Noriega's shooting opened the interior for Gilchrist (5-for-10 from the field and 6-of-8 from the line) and Famous (5-of-9 from the field).
However the Red Storm's pressure defense forced 18 turnovers and limited the Bulls to 41.3 percent shooting.
http://www2.tbo.com/content/2011/mar/05/052312/SPNEWSO9-st-johns-storms-past-usf-72-56/sports-colleges-bulls/
posted by Denis P. Gorman at 11:07 AM
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