By TOM ZEBOLD
USF Senior Writer
CINCINNATI - Victor Rudd scored a game-high 22 points in the short-handed Bulls' 61-53 overtime loss at Cincinnati on Saturday.
USF's Zach LeDay and Anthony Collins combined to score 17 points before fouling out in regulation. JaQuon Parker scored five of his 14 points in overtime to help Cincinnati (21-10, 9-9) snap the Bulls' two-game winning streak in the teams' regular season finale.
A LeDay 3-pointer gave the Bulls a 45-37 lead with 7:35 left in regulation before Cincinnati put together a rally on Senior Day at Fifth Third Arena. Senior Cheikh Mbodj posted a game-high nine rebounds to help the Bearcats finish with a 35-24 edge on the glass.
"We kind of know that going down the stretch they were going to keep swinging," USF head coach Stan Heath said. "The thing that I thought cost us the most was rebounding. It seemed liked they got a lot of those 50-50 plays with those rebounds."
Rudd posted his 19th double-digit scoring game of the season while Martino Brock finished with eight points. Collins' six assists helped the sophomore move into fourth place on USF's single-season list. Collins now has 185 assists and ranks 10th on the Bulls' career list with 346.
The Bulls (12-18, 3-15) will face Seton Hall in the first round of the Big East Championship at 7 p.m. on Tuesday at Madison Square Garden in New York.
"This is our postseason and we want to make the most out of it," Heath said. "Hopefully we can take the script out of UConn's pages from a few years back."
