By TOM ZEBOLD
USF Senior Writer
TAMPA - The Bulls' ability to share the wealth translated into their sixth Big East win of the season on Sunday.
Anthony Collins and Hugh Robertson each led five USF players in double figures with 15 points apiece in the Bulls' 81-78 victory over Providence before a crowd of 4,333 at the Tampa Bay Times Forum.
"That goes to show how deep our team is," said Toarlyn Fitzpatrick, who scored 13 points for the Bulls (13-9, 6-3). "We have guys that can make things happen."
USF committed only five turnovers and had 17 assists while improving to 11-1 at home this season. The Bulls were coming off a 67-47 loss to No. 17/18 Marquette on Tuesday when they committed 22 turnovers.
"We put that behind us and everybody came together," Robertson said. "We worked on being tough with the ball in practice and it paid off in the game."
LaDontae Henton scored a career-high 33 points for Providence, which lost its 20th consecutive Big East road game. The Friars (12-10, 1-8) haven't won a league contest on the road since 2010. Henton scored nine points after the break after he went 8-for-11 from the field in the first half.
"We just tried to stay attached to him and not give him open looks," said Robertson, who had three steals.
USF started off Sunday's game red-hot from the field, shooting 62 percent on the way to a 14-10 lead about 5 minutes in. Ron Anderson Jr. started the game with two straight buckets in the paint and the Bulls continued to hurt the Friars inside with 10 of its first 14 points coming from close to the hoop. The other four were free throws from Augustus Gilchrist, who was fouled near the basket.
Henton was good from all over in the first half, pouring in a career-high 24 points including four 3-pointers. The Friars led by as many as seven at one point and had a 39-33 advantage on Henton's final 3-pointer of the half.
USF rebounded with a 6-0 run to go into the break tied at 39 with four coming from Robertson, who was the second Bull in double figures. Anderson Jr. had a team-high 12 points in the first period (14 total) to help USF hold a 28-14 edge in the paint.
Providence started the second half on a 5-0 run led, 53-49, with about 12 minutes remaining when the Bulls got busy. Jawanza Poland scored four points, including the go-head jumper, during a 9-1 run that gave USF a 58-54 advantage with about 9 minutes to play.
Collins also came up big for USF during the stretch run to the final buzzer. The freshman point guard helped the Bulls double their lead with 5:21 remaining after scoring eight straight points and became the fourth USF player in double figures.
Fitzpatrick was the fifth Bull in double figures and his 3-pointer with just over a minute to play gave USF an eight-point cushion.
Henton made three free throws to cut USF's lead to 80-78 with less than 10 seconds remaining, but Victor Rudd Jr. put the game out of reach with a free throw right before the final buzzer sounded.
"We're building a lot of confidence," USF head coach Stan Heath said. "We've put ourselves in a good position."
USF gets back on the road next Saturday to face No. 10 Georgetown at 11 a.m. The game will be televised on ESPNU.
