Chris Youngblood racked up 17 points and Kasean Pryor scored 16 points as No. 25 South Florida, which entered the Top 25 for the first time in program history earlier this week, defeated host Charlotte 76-61 on Saturday to clinch the American Athletic Conference regular-season title.
Selton Miguel added 13 points off the bench and Kobe Knox had 12 points as the Bulls stretched their winning streak to 14 games.
South Florida (22-5, 15-1 AAC) shot 48.2 percent from the floor and pulled in 15 offensive rebounds in another impressive showing for first-year coach Amir Abdur-Rahim’s team. This marks the first time the Bulls have captured a regular-season league title.
Lu’cye Patterson’s 17 points led Charlotte (17-11, 11-5), while Nik Graves had 12 points and Dean Reiber posted 11 points. The 49ers couldn’t overcome their 40.4 percent shooting from the floor. They made just 5 of 18 shots from 3-point range.
Youngblood drained a 3-pointer and Miguel made two free throws as the lead grew to 60-44 as the midway mark of the second half approached.
The Bulls feasted on more free throws before Youngblood’s 3 quieted the crowd again to give South Florida a 67-49 advantage. Even with Charlotte scoring the next seven points, the 49ers didn’t put together a sustained run because they didn’t string together enough scoring possessions.
South Florida withstood a stretch of scoring only three points in more than four minutes, yet still held a double-digit advantage.
The Bulls led 33-28 at halftime and stretched that to 46-35 early in the second half.
South Florida, which already achieved its first 20-win regular season in program history, swept the season series from Charlotte.
Youngblood finished 6-for-10 from the floor with three 3s.
The Bulls outrebounded the 49ers 42-28. Brandon Stroud had 10 of the boards.
–Field Level Media