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Shorthanded USF battles but falls to SMU

 
Published Jan. 29, 2015

TAMPA — Six hours before USF's tipoff Wednesday night against SMU, the school issued a 16-word news release announcing that Bulls power forward Chris Perry will be out indefinitely with an unspecified "health issue."

The ensuing memo about the season fading to a dimmer hue of bleakness as a result? Perry's teammates never got that one.

In arguably their grittiest effort of the year, the shorthanded Bulls burst to an early seven-point lead and remained within striking distance down the stretch before falling 63-52.

Only three possessions separated the Mustangs (17-4, 8-1 American Athletic Conference) from the Bulls (7-14, 1-7) as late as the 1:38 mark.

"They did a remarkable job based on getting the news about Chris," SMU coach and Hall of Famer Larry Brown said. "I have a lot of admiration for the way they played. … We wouldn't have won this game last year."

Actually, they didn't.

SMU's triumph — behind power forward Markus Kennedy's 22 points off the bench — came precisely a year after the Bulls' 78-71 upset in the same building. Wednesday, before a Sun Dome crowd of 3,589, a sequel brewed behind a valiant ensemble effort.

The first of shooting guard Nehemias Morillo's trio of 3-pointers — at the shot-clock buzzer — gave USF a 12-8 lead. His second cut SMU's lead to 28-25 with 1:39 to go in the half. Meantime, Bo Zeigler — Perry's replacement — put himself on a double double pace (six points, five boards) in the first 20 minutes.

Then midway through the second half, senior Corey Allen hit a pair of treys in a 19-second span to cut the Bulls' deficit to 44-40. SMU answered with an 8-0 run but failed to completely seal things as 6-foot-11, 265-pound Bulls junior Jaleel Cousins (six points, 10 rebounds) scored five consecutive points shortly thereafter.

"We were competing. We were men," said Bulls coach Orlando Antigua, whose club lost by 34 at SMU on New Year's Eve. "We didn't let errors compound or disrupt our focus, and we just kept playing."

Perry, who exited a Saturday evening practice with chest pains and hasn't suited up since, watched from the bench in sweats. Antigua offered no specifics on Perry's condition other than to say he's "day to day."

"They kind of embarrassed us (in the first game) so we were motivated by that," Allen said. "We were short-handed but we had some guys step up."

Contact Joey Knight at jknight@tampabay.com. Follow @TBTimes_Bulls.