South Florida continues upset swing by shocking No

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South Florida continues upset swing by shocking No. 21 Cincinnati  

 

MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- Terrence Leather scored 16 of his 21 points in the second half, and South Florida upset No. 21 Cincinnati 80-68 Thursday night in the Conference USA Tournament semifinals.

The 11th-seeded Bulls (14-15) have won three in a row and reached the tournament semifinals for the first time in their last season as a member. The Bulls will be playing in the Big East next season along with Cincinnati.

No team has dominated Conference USA like the Bearcats, who were trying to add a fifth tournament title to the one they won last year.

But it will be the Bulls playing Memphis, an 83-69 upset winner over No. 25 Charlotte, in the semifinals Friday instead of Cincinnati (24-7).

Brian Swift added 16 points for the Bulls, James Holmes and Marlyn Bryant each had 14.

Jason Maxiell led Cincinnati with 21 points, Eric Hicks added 18 and James White had 10.

The Bearcats had dominated their series with USF, winning 18 of the 21 games and the last 14.

USF, which now has upset two ranked teams in its winning streak, never backed down against the physical Bearcats. The Bulls outshot Cincinnati 45.2 percent to 37.1 percent and outrebounded the Bearcats 41-37.

Cincinnati hit just 12-of-36 in the second half.

The Bearcats led 50-46 on a jumper by Armein Kirkland before the Bulls scored the next 11 points, including eight from Leather. His second consecutive 3-pointer put the Bulls up 57-50 with 11:16 left.

The Bulls led 71-57 on a bucket by Jones with 6:41 to go.

Cincinnati tried to respond as White scored on a three-point play, and Nick Williams hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key to pull within 71-65 with 5:13 left. That was as close as the Bearcats would get.

The Bulls led 36-35 at halftime after refusing to back down against Cincinnati in a half with five ties and eight lead changes.

USF upset sixth-seeded Houston in the opening round, and the Bulls started their quarterfinal with an 8-2 run for a 21-13 lead on Leather's 3 midway through the half.

http://cbs.sportsline.com/collegebasketball/gamecenter/recap/NCAAB_20050310_SFL@CIN