Here's our basketball game story from Times writer Laura Keeley ...

TAMPA—For the first time this season, the Bulls were all healthy.

And it couldn’t have come at a better time, as Jawanza Poland led the team with 13 points in his season debut as USF downed Cleveland State 70-55.

“We have Jawanza back, we’re at full strength, and it feels good to have a full group of guys,” forward Ron Anderson Jr. said. “We have a lot of different guys out there and can use a couple different looks.”

USF coach Stan Heath did just that on defense, switching from man-to-man to a zone in order to take the Vikings (10-2) out of their rhythm and keep them in front of the Bulls' defenders. As a result, Cleveland State shot 26.9 percent from 3-point range, hampering the Vikings’ ability to come back from a 25-21 halftime deficit. The Bulls held the Vikings scoreless for nine minutes in the opening half as Hugh Robertson capped a 10-0 run with a steal and a two-handed slam dunk.

The acrobatics continued for USF after the break in what Heath called his team’s best half this season. Poland, who missed games due to a lingering back injury and two-game NCAA suspension, scored all of his 13 points in the latter frame. After nailing two free throws for his first points, Poland sunk a wide-open 3-pointer on the Bulls’ next possession.

“He’s one of those guys that’s a rhythm guy,” Heath said. “Once Jawanza gets going, he’s like that heater in the basement—He gets hot and starts throwing steam out.”

The warm weather wasn’t kind to the Vikings, a team that beat USF in Cleveland last year and knocked off then-No. 7 Vanderbilt to open this season. After Cleveland State started the second half on a 6-0 run, it was a Poland one-handed dunk past a fallen defender in the paint that pushed the Bulls’ lead to 10 and forced the Vikings to call timeout.

“I caught it off a reverse,” Poland said. “I had hit a couple of shots off the pump fake, and I saw the lane open.”

Augustus Gilchrist, who entered the contest 15 points shy of 1,000 for his career, added 10 of his 12 points in the second half as well. And after 24 turnovers doomed USF against the Vikings last year, the Bulls only committed 12 last night while forcing 14 of their own.

The challenge for USF will be to replicate the second-half success on the road, as the Bulls travel to Southern Miss on Thursday. The strong performance in front of an announced crowd of 2,942—there was more like 942 actually in the stands—will only help going forward.