The USF Bulls had difficulties throughout the season holding onto leads. That is how a team ends up playing on the first day of a conference tournament when most of the conference gets byes to the second round.
It would figure then that Orlando Antigua’s Bulls would get a shot at redemption and have to face that situation again.
The Bulls led by one entering the second half. They built their lead to eight and then saw it chopped down. Built it up again and chopped down.
The East Carolina Pirates never could get the lead all the way down. They never could take control. USF had taken advantage of the opportunity and taken that step forward the team had so desperately sought all year.
USF held off East Carolina 71-66 behind a strong second half, advancing to the second round of the American Athletic Conference Tournament at the Amway Center on Thursday. The Bulls will play the top-seeded Temple Owls in the first game of the day at noon.
“We talked about wanting to just take one step, worrying about the game we have in front of us,” Antigua said. “And we executed. Happy to get the opportunity to compete again.”
Survive and advance indeed.
The Bulls and Pirates played extremely close throughout the entire game with no team taking more than an eight-point lead. USF had the lead through much of the second half, but never could gain distance from East Carolina.
Once the Bulls got their lead with 8:26 left, they just had to hold on. The Pirates would inevitably make their run, but they never could overtake USF.
The Bulls had to sweat it out though. And they needed to execute, answering the Pirates with every run.
USF showed they had learned
“Today we really played together,” Chris Perry said. “A lot more than I have seen this season. Everyone just feels so much better about themselves. If we made mistakes, we just kept each other up. It’s all positive, no negative vibes.”
Angel Nunez scored 19 points and grabbed 11 rebounds and Chris Perry came off the bench to score 18 points on 7-for-11 shooting.
The Pirates got 19 points from B.J. Tyson and 17 points from Lance Tejada, including 5-of-r9 shooting from beyond the arc. Both teams rebounded well, it just came down to USF making more shots and holding off East Carolina for the win.
