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AMHERST, N.Y. ? Junior guard Jesus Verdejo led USF with a team-high 18 points but it wasn't enough as Buffalo defeated the University of South Florida, 76-69, Tuesday at Alumni Arena.
The Bulls (0-2) were led by junior guard Jesus Verdejo with a team-high 18 points, going 8-of-14 from the field and 2-of-4 from 3-point range. Freshman guard Dominic Jones tallied 17, besting the 13 he scored in his college debut last Friday vs. Cleveland State. Jones had three 3-pointers, four steals and three assists.
Rodney Pierce, a sophomore transfer from Rider, scored a game high 20 point, was 8-of-10 from the floor and drained 3-of-5 3-pointers with seven rebounds for Buffalo (2-1). Sean Smiley went 6-for-12 from the field, 4-of-9 from the 3-point arc for 16 points. Max Boudreau grabbed eight rebounds.
USF Center Kentrell Gransberry, despite pulling down 10 rebounds, was held in check with 9 points. Gransberry was 3-of-14 from the field and missed three free-throws in the final 1:51 with South Florida down by five. The game marked the season debut of Gransberry, a preseason All-BIG EAST selection. He missed the opener vs. Cleveland State serving a one game penalty for playing in a non-sanctioned summer tournament
"Let's give Buffalo a lot of credit," said USF head coach Stan Heath. "They really ran their stuff, they were in-sinc. I thought they executed very well. They were countering some of the things we were trying to do. At the same time I thought we had a very poor performance defensively. You really don't give your team much of a chance to win when you don't defend."
South Florida tied the game at 57-57 with 11:54 left as Solomon Bozeman completed a 4-point play, sinking a 3-pointer and a free throw after Smiley fouled him. Buffalo then went on an 11-2 run over the next 4:11 to open a 68-59 lead. Buffalo led 44-36 at the half, shooting 50 percent (18-for-36) from the floor while South Florida was 14-of-32.
"We're a team right now that is not playing very good basketball," said Heath. "I saw stretches were we came back and tied the score, saw stretches were we executed. I saw stretches were we got stops, but not enough. We've got to do it for 40 minutes. We've got to develop our bench a lot better so we have more guys to keep us at a higher intensity level for a longer period of time."
USF now returns to Florida and will head across the state to Daytona Beach Friday-Sunday, Nov. 16-18, for three games as part of the Bright House Networks Glenn Wilkes Classic. The Bulls will face Atlantic 10 member Rhode Island Friday at 2:15 p.m., in-state rival Florida Atlantic Saturday at Noon and ACC member Florida State Sunday at 8:30 p.m. Due to television, the start time of the Florida State game has been moved back 15 minutes from 8:15 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. The FSU game will be televised by Catch 47 and all three games broadcast on radio on WHNZ 1250 AM.
Single session and all session tickets are still available for the 2007 Glenn Wilkes Classic which will be held at the Ocean Center. Tickets can be purchased by calling the Ocean Center box office at 386-254-4545 or by visiting www.ticketmaster.com or any Ticketmaster outlet.
