Box Score By TOM ZEBOLD
USF Senior Writer
ORLANDO, MARCH 11, 2016 – USF's stars shined for the final time this season in a 79-62 loss to top-seeded Temple in the American Athletic Conference Championship quarterfinals on Friday.
Chris Perry ended his junior season with a game-high 19 points and eight rebounds. The forward from Bartow, Fla., helped USF post its first American Athletic Conference Championship win with 18 points against ECU on Thursday.
“We're definitely on the rise,” said Perry of the program. “We just have to keep our focus, play hard every single game and stick to what we do best.”
Freshman Jahmal McMurray heated up in the second half and finished with 16 points, including four 3-pointers in seven attempts. The unanimous American All-Rookie Team selection averaged 15.2 points and scored in double figures 29 times this season for USF (8-25).
“We just have to go back, continue to get better, continue to fight and continue to learn how to win,” McMurray said.
Jaleel Cousins capped off his solid senior season with 11 points, nine rebounds, two blocks and two assists. With a last-second tip-in, the center from Mobile, Ala., reached double-digit scoring figures for the 17th time and led USF in rebounding 15 times.
“I'm proud of our guys, the way they competed and how they continued to battle and fight throughout the challenges of the game,” head coach Orlando Antigua said.
With a hand in his face, McMurray beat the buzzer with a desperation 3-pointer to cut the Bulls' deficit to 35-27 by the break.
USF shot 48 percent in the opening period (12-for-25) and McMurray made both of the team's 3-pointers. Perry led all players with nine first-half points after going 4-for-5 from the field with four defensive rebounds.
Temple (21-10) shot 40 percent in the opening half (13-for-32), led for nearly 18 minutes and scored 10 points off 10 USF turnovers. The Owls scored 18 total points off 15 turnovers by the Bulls.
Perry jumped into double figures in the first two minutes of the second half to cut Temple's lead to 36-29. That's as close as USF got the rest of the way because of scoring droughts by the Bulls.
After Perry's jumper, Temple went on a 9-0 run before a Perry dunk got the Bulls within 10 with 15:31 remaining. Temple responded with a 12-2 run and Devin Coleman's 3-pointer extended the Owls' advantage to 56-36 with 11:58 to go.
“We defended, we were taking care of the ball and we were rebounding,” Antigua said. “Then I thought we gave them too many live ball turnovers in that series. Then they were able to get some confidence going, get to the free throw line some and we never quite could recover from that.”
Despite the deficit, USF battled to the final buzzer while key contributors ended their season on a productive note.
McMurray finished second among freshmen in USF single-season history with 500 points, 31 shy of the record set by Dominique Jones (2007-08). McMurray set a new USF freshman record with 73 3-pointers, one more than Radenko Dobras in 1988-89. McMurray also played the most minutes among freshmen in Bulls history with 1,161.
Big performances down the stretch helped Perry post 15 double-digit scoring games this season. Perry averaged 10.1 points and 6.6 rebounds in 21 games.
“Those two young men have grown, have learned and have become better people, better students and better basketball players. We're fortunate to have an opportunity to coach them,” Antigua said. “They both still have a lot of room to grow. For us and our program, where we want to try to take this, it's important that we have kids like both of them.”
McMurray and Perry returning, combined with a promising roster for 2016-17 has the Bulls in a good place heading into the offseason. USF also will have conference tournament success to draw back on moving forward.
“I was really excited about the step that we took in being able to advance,” Antigua said. “I would have loved to continue to be playing, but I'm encouraged about where we're heading and where we're going.”
The USF men's basketball team is led by Orlando Antigua, who is in his second season as the head coach after spending the previous six season as an assistant to Naismith Hall of Fame coach John Calipari. USF has retired three numbers in its 45-year history: Chucky Atkins (12), Charlie Bradley (30) and Radenko Dobras (31). The Bulls have earned three NCAA tournament bids and appeared in the NIT eight times. In the 2011-12 season, USF was one win away from an appearance in the Sweet 16.
