USF Senior Writer

TAMPA, FEB. 26, 2014 – USF had a nine-point lead with less than 13 minutes to go but couldn't shut the door on UConn in a 61-56 loss before a crowd of 5,115 at the Sun Dome on Wednesday night.

Shabazz Napier scored 13 of his game-high 17 points in the final 11 minutes and made a number of clutch plays in crunch time to help the Huskies improve to 22-6 (10-5) and complete the season series sweep of the Bulls.

Josh Heath's layup with 52 seconds remaining cut USF's deficit to 58-56 before Napier's 3-pointer gave UConn the breathing room it needed with 23 seconds left on the clock.

"He's an assassin. He loves those moments and he's been delivering ever since Kemba (Walker) left," head coach Stan Heath said.

Senior forward Victor Rudd (Los Angeles) led USF with 14 points and eight rebounds after the Bulls headed into halftime with a 28-22 advantage. Freshman point guard Josh Heath (Tampa) scored a career-high seven points and freshman center John Egbunu (Bauchi, Nigeria) scored eight points and grabbed nine rebounds to help the Bulls finish with a 39-29 edge on the glass.

"It's hard to lose a game that you're winning at half and you're playing really well. We did a lot of good thing things out there," Heath said.

USF fell behind, 45-14, by halftime of its 83-40 loss at UConn on Feb. 12, but Wednesday's opening period was a much different story for the Bulls (12-16, 3-12).

Senior Martino Brock's buzzer-beating 3-pointer spotted USF a 28-22 halftime lead after the Bulls kept the UConn offense out of sync, especially inside the paint. USF used a 7-0 run to take its first lead on a pair of free throws from freshman Chris Perry (Bartow) in the first 5 minutes and grabbed the lead for good with 6:32 to go when Rudd made an acrobatic layup to give the Bulls an 18-17 advantage.

USF closed the half on a 6-2 run in the final 2 minutes while its defense limited the Huskies to 7-for-24 from the field (29 percent).

Rudd was on his way to registering his seventh double-double of the season with eight points and six rebounds.  Perry and Egbunu combined for 10 points and nine rebounds and helped the Bulls start with an 18-8 edge in points in the paint.

"It was a different game us being able to score and us being effective inside the 3-point line," Heath said.

USF stayed in command for the first 6 minutes of the second half and pumped its lead up to 38-29 with a layup by Perry. UConn answered back with a 3-pointer Niels Giffey and seized control of the game while continuing on an 18-0 run. USF went scoreless for nearly 7 minutes during the Huskies' hot stretch before JaVontae Hawkins' 3-pointer cut the Bulls' deficit to 47-41 with 7:06 remaining.

"We built it up to nine and I think we let our guard down a little bit, and that's when they made their run," Heath said.

UConn responded with a 3-pointer by Napier to go back up by nine, but the Bulls wouldn't go away. Rudd converted a three-point play, Shemiye McLendon (Vero Beach) knocked down a jumper and a 3-pointer by Heath cut the deficit to 50-49 with 3:54 remaining.

Two layups from Napier and a 3-pointer from Giffey extended UConn's lead to 58-52 before the Huskies endured one last charge by the Bulls. Heath made a pair of free throws inside of 2 minutes and his layup with 52 seconds remaining set the stage for an upset chance that was dashed by Napier's jumper from beyond the arc.

"We couldn't get the key stop that we needed, but we did some good things out there," Heath said. "If we can build on this and improve ourselves in some ways we'll win some games down the stretch here."

USF finishes up its week with a test at Rutgers on Saturday at noon and plays its final road game of the regular season Tuesday, March 4 at Houston at 8:30 p.m. The Bulls' home finale is set for Saturday, March 8 against Temple at 2 p.m.  Watch the Bulls honor their senior class by purchasing tickets HERE.