CHICAGO, APRIL 3, 2019 – Laquincy Rideau scored a career-high 35 points and fueled a second half comeback, but DePaul outlasted USF 100-96 in overtime Wednesday evening in game two of the College Basketball Invitational championships series at McGrath-Phillips Arena.

Rideau (West Palm Beach, Fla.) made a career-high seven three-pointers to go along with eight assists and four steals and needs two more steals to become just the third player in the NCAA this season with 100 assists and 100 steals. Redshirt freshman Alexis added 26 points and 13 rebounds for his league-leading 15th double-double of the season.

Max Strus led DePaul with 32 points and Paul Reed scored a career-high 28 points and added 16 rebounds. Femi Olujobi chipped in with 14 points and four rebounds for the Blue Demons.

DePaul (19-16) closed the first half on an 11-2 to turn a two-point lead into an 11-point advantage at the break. The Blue Demons scored the first two baskets of the second half and took their largest lead of the game on a jumper by Strus to go ahead 50-35.

After Reed put DePaul up 62-50 with a dunk at the 14:25 mark, USF answered with an 18-8 run over the next seven minutes to trim the lead to two. David Collins (Youngstown, Ohio) gave USF its first lead since the 13:58 mark of the first half when dunk with 3:05 remaining put the Bulls ahead 79-77.

Reed regained the lead for DePaul with a three-pointer just over a minute later, but Yetna answered for USF with a trey with 28 seconds left to send the contest into overtime.

DePaul led by eight points with just under a minute left in overtime before the Bulls pulled within three points with 28 seconds left. The Blue Demons pushed their lead up to five points on free throws from Flynn Cameron and Lyrik Shreiner. Brown scored for USF on the following possession to cut the deficit to three, but USF was forced to foul and Reed hit one of two free throws with eight seconds left to clinch the win.

 Key Stats
96 – USF scored a season-high 96 points to surpass the previous season-best of 95 against Florida College.
43 – USF finished with 40 or more rebounds for the 17th time this season.
13 – USF tied its season-high for three-pointers made with 13.
7 – Laquincy Rideau made a career-high seven three-pointers.
57.1 – USF shot 57.1 percent in the second half to erase a 15-point deficit.

 Notables

• USF set a single-season school record with its 37th gamed played of the season.
• David Collins moved into seventh place on USF's all-time season scoring list with 568 points.
• Laquincy Rideau had eight assists and moved into fifth-place on the USF all-time single season list with 184.
• Laquincy Rideau is two steals away from reaching 100 this season. The redshirt junior guard already owns USF's single-season steals record.
• Laquincy Rideau's 35 points are the 11^th-most in a single game in school history. It's also the most point scored in a game by a USF player since Dominique Jones had 37 points against Pittsburgh on Jan. 31, 2010.

Up Next
USF will look to take a tournament title back home to Tampa when it remains in Chicago for game three of the CBI championship series. Action begins at 7 p.m. (EST) Friday at DePaul (TV: ESPNU).

About USF Men's Basketball
The USF men's basketball team is led by head coach Brian Gregory. On March 22, 2017, Gregory was introduced as the 10^th head coach in program history. He previously led programs at Georgia Tech (2011-16) and Dayton (2003-11). Gregory spent nearly a decade as an assistant coach under Michigan State's Hall of Fame head coach Tom Izzo and helped the Spartans win the 2000 NCAA National Championship. Gregory brings nearly 250 career head coaching wins and six postseason appearances, including the 2010 NIT Championship, to Tampa. In his first season at the helm of the Bulls, Gregory led the team to its first 10-plus win season since 2013-14.

USF has retired three numbers in its 47-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.

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