by Carter Brantley
In a high-scoring Myrtle Beach Invitational matchup, the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders took down the USF Bulls 95-88.
The Bulls fell behind early, ending the 1st half down 51-33, and could never quite recover.
They received a wonderful performance from guards Jayden Reid and Kasen Jennings.
Both hit a trio of 3-balls, and Reid ended up with a team-leading 18 points for the game on 6-11 shooting overall from the field.
Jennings ended up fouling out after 27 productive minutes where he scored 13 points while shooting 5-7 from the field.
Big man Jamille Reynolds had a nice night too, shooting a perfect 6-6 from the field and 5-6 from the free throw line, ending up with 17 points and 9 rebounds.
Unfortunately USF allowed the Blue Raiders to shoot the lights out from deep, as they went 12-23 from the 3-point line as a team, heavily contributing to their massive lead in the 1st half.
Star guard Jestin Porter continued his hot Myrtle Beach Invitational, following up his 24-point performance in Middle Tenneseee’s 1st game against the Ohio Bobcats with an even more efficient 26-point performance against the Bulls, with 14 of those points coming in the 1st half.
Porter shot 75% from the field for the day and went 4-6 from deep.
Senior forward Essam Moustafa contributed a 20-point double-double, adding in 10 rebounds, a pair of steals and a block to round out a tremendous performance for the big man from Cairo.
Moustafa led the team in 2nd half scoring with 14 of his 20 points coming in that time period.
USF was unfortunately outmatched by a now 5-1 team and fell to a .500 record for the season, as they take their 3-3 record into Sunday’s game against a yet-to-be-determined opponent.
