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Cougars Dunk V-Hawks Early, Roll to 83-56 Win

Men's Basketball USF Athletics

Cougars Dunk V-Hawks Early, Roll to 83-56 Win

With a narrow loss to NCAA D-I Wyoming in the rear view mirror and the new year fast approaching, the USF men's basketball team seems resolute about getting better.

The Cougars (4-7) cruised past Viterbo University (6-9) 83-56 on Friday night, taking advantage of an early 10-0 scoring run to push their record at the Stewart Center to 3-0 this season. 

Though the outcome was never in doubt, sophomore point guard Derek Brown said it was a chance to get better.

"We know that we have to be more intense, more focused," Brown said. "I think we did a good job of running the floor and preventing them from playing a slower tempo game, but we also had a couple of lapses on defense."

Brown put up 12 points and six boards and did not record a turnover.   

"Overall, I think we accomplished what we set out to do in the game," he added.   

The USF starters got some rest tonight-none played more than David Maxwell's 30 minutes and every player on Chris Johnson's bench logged time on the court.  

"It was a good first game coming back from the break," USF head coach Chris Johnson said. "We still have to take better care of the basketball, but the guys stuck to the game plan for the most part."

The Cougars' trend of winning the battle on the boards continued Friday. USF edged Viterbo on the glass, 34-30, and has now out-rebounded opponents in nine of its first 11 games. In the past three games, USF has grabbed 122 rebounds combined against Crown, Wyoming and Viterbo.

"I thought we were very strong defensively," Johnson said. "The guys were also attentive and really good on the backboards."  

The Cougars raced out to a 41-25 halftime lead that was capped off with a deep trey by true freshman Bretson McNeal as time expired.

Viterbo trailed just 20-18 at 8:07 in the first half before USF got rolling. During a 10-0 Cougar run that extended USF's lead to 30-18, the V-Hawks missed three shots and committed two turnovers.

Keith Cutler started the scoring run with a trey from the right corner at 7:41. Alex Robey finished it with a banked-in three-pointer about six minutes before halftime.

Little changed after intermission. Viterbo struggled to execute its half-court offense and couldn't keep up with USF's breakneck pace in the second half. It was 66-43 with 6:56 remaining after back-to-back layups by James Rader and David Maxwell and 75-50 at the 3:31 mark on a baseline dunk by Saajid Polite. A.J. Holland converted a pair from the stripe with 0:01 on the clock to create the final margin.

"Our goal was to get a lot better," Johnson said, "and I do think that we made some significant steps tonight."

Senior center Skyler Bloch led the Cougars' inside dominance with 15 points and eight boards. McNeal chipped in a career high 14 points off the bench and also tallied three boards and two steals. Cutler finished the game with 11 points (3-of-9 from three point range) and Robey had nine points.  

The Cougars drained a season-best 11 treys against the V-Hawks and converted 12 of 15 free throws attempts. Viterbo finished 2 of 15 from beyond the arc and 10 of 17 from the line.

USF will host the University of Wisconsin-River Falls Falcons (8-2) tomorrow at 6:00 p.m.      
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Players Mentioned

Skyler Bloch

#50 Skyler Bloch

C
6' 8"
Senior
Derek Brown

#11 Derek Brown

G
6' 0"
Sophomore
Keith Cutler

#30 Keith Cutler

G
6' 3"
Sophomore
A.J. Holland

#3 A.J. Holland

G
6' 2"
Junior
David Maxwell

#34 David Maxwell

F
6' 5"
Junior
Bretson McNeal

#44 Bretson McNeal

G
6' 2"
Freshman
Saajid Polite

#23 Saajid Polite

G
6' 3"
Junior
James Rader

#33 James Rader

F
6' 8"
Junior
Alex Robey

#5 Alex Robey

G
6' 4"
Sophomore

Players Mentioned

Skyler Bloch

#50 Skyler Bloch

6' 8"
Senior
C
Derek Brown

#11 Derek Brown

6' 0"
Sophomore
G
Keith Cutler

#30 Keith Cutler

6' 3"
Sophomore
G
A.J. Holland

#3 A.J. Holland

6' 2"
Junior
G
David Maxwell

#34 David Maxwell

6' 5"
Junior
F
Bretson McNeal

#44 Bretson McNeal

6' 2"
Freshman
G
Saajid Polite

#23 Saajid Polite

6' 3"
Junior
G
James Rader

#33 James Rader

6' 8"
Junior
F
Alex Robey

#5 Alex Robey

6' 4"
Sophomore
G