Kasean Pryor made a foul shot with 4.4 seconds left Thursday night, capping visiting South Florida’s comeback from a 20-point, second-half deficit as the Bulls upset No. 10 Memphis 74-73.
Pryor, who finished with 21 points and 10 rebounds for the Bulls (10-5, 3-1 American Athletic Conference), got wide open on an inbounds play and drove the lane. Nae’Qwan Tomlin had no choice but to foul him in order to prevent a certain dunk.
Pryor swished the first free throw and missed the second, giving the Tigers (15-3, 4-1) a chance to pull off the win. But Jahvon Quinerly, who hit consecutive game-winners in the team’s first two conference victories over Tulsa and SMU, missed a potential game-winning 3-pointer as the final horn blared.
South Florida senior Selton Miguel tied his career high with 23 points, going 5 of 10 from the 3-point arc. Chris Youngblood added 13 points for the Bulls, who outscored Memphis 42-26 in the second half. South Florida won for the eighth time in nine games.
David Jones scored a game-high 25 points for the Tigers, who saw their 10-game winning streak end. Quinerly added 15 and Tomlin finished with 10, but Memphis made just 6 of 28 3-point attempts (21.4 percent), including 2 of 15 (13.3 percent) in the second half.
Most of the first half was played at Memphis’ pace, and South Florida had real trouble keeping up. After scoring on their first three possessions, the Bulls didn’t score again for 6:02 while the Tigers ripped off 12 straight points.
Then things morphed from bad to worse for South Florida. Memphis imposed its pace and quickly upped the lead to double figures on Tomlin’s layup at the 11:17 mark that made it 21-10. Jones upped the margin to 17 with a pair of three-point plays in a 21-second span.
Jones increased the advantage to 34-14 at the 7:05 mark by bombing a 3-pointer, and the Tigers cruised through the half’s remainder, heading for the break with a comfortable 47-32 cushion.
Memphis ended the half with 28-4 and 17-0 advantages in paint points and fastbreak points, respectively.
After the break, the Bulls got within four points on a 9-0 run capped by a Brandon Stroud layup with 11:13 to go.
Jayden Reid’s layup with 37 seconds left pulled South Florida level. A Quinerly turnover set up the Bulls for the decisive possession.
–Field Level Media