By Tom Zebold

USF Senior Writer

TAMPA, NOV. 21, 2015 – Jaleel Cousins put together his best game as a Bull with a career-high 14 points and 12 rebounds in USF's 78-66 loss to Boston University at the Sun Dome on Saturday night.

Cousins nearly secured his first-career double-double in the first half alone with seven points and eight rebounds. The 6-foot-11 senior center helped the Bulls win the rebounding battle, 41-30, and went 8-for-11 from the free throw line in his impressive performance.

“This is my last year to just leave it all out on the floor, so every game I'm trying to bring it,” Cousins said. “I really wasn't necessarily worried about stats. I just really want to win and help my team, so that's what I was out there trying to do.”

USF (0-4) also got a career-high 16 points and a team-high four assists from Roddy Peters. Freshman Jahmal McMurray extended his double-digit scoring streak to four games with 11 points.

Boston (2-2) did a lot of its damage from long range with 10 3-pointers and shot nearly 50 percent overall. Cheddi Mosely made four 3-pointers on the way to a game-high 21 points. John Papale added five 3-pointers and finished with 17 points.

“The rebounding has improved, our turnovers have improved. Our defensive intensity has to continue to improve for a full game,” head coach Orlando Antigua said. “We did it in spurts, so we're capable of doing it. We just have to sustain it.”

USF headed into halftime trailing, 34-32, despite dominating on the boards by a 26-14 margin and it was all Cousins early on.

Cousins started the game with five rebounds in the first two minutes and his three-point play extended the USF lead to 18-10 with 11:36 remaining in the first half.

“He's in great shape, so he's able to sustain and play a lot more minutes than he was last year,” said Antigua of Cousins, who has dropped 10 pounds since last season.

Boston came into the game averaging 11 3-pointers per game and Nick Havener's basket from beyond the arc gave the Terriers a 26-24 advantage with 5:09 to play. Boston went 6-for-14 from long range in the opening period and got four 3-pointers from Papale.

Boston jumped out to a 55-42 lead in the first eight minutes of the second half while going 9-for-15 from the field.

USF cut its deficit down from double digits under the 10-minute mark with the big men leading the charge. Following a Ruben Guerrero layup, Cousins sank a pair of free throws to cut the Boston lead down to 61-56 with 6:21 remaining.

The Bulls were unable to get any closer to Boston, which continued do what it does best. Papale's fifth 3-pointer put the Terriers ahead, 74-62, with 1:42 remaining.

“The game plan was to drive them off the 3-point line because they catch and shoot and they make it. That's exactly what they did,” Antigua said.

The Bulls will look to bounce back at home against Albany on Tuesday, Nov. 24 at 7 p.m. Fans can reserve their seats for the finale of USF's five-game homestand at USFBullsTix.com. 

The USF men's basketball team returns seven from last season's team including regular starters Ruben Guerrero, Chris Perry, Nehemias Morillo and Bo Zeigler. Orlando Antigua is in his second season as the head coach after spending the previous five season as an assistant to Naismith Hall of Fame coach John Calipari. USF's schedule is comprised of nine teams which had an RPI of 54 or better last season. The Bulls host 19 games, five of those teams made the NCAA Tournament last season.