by Carter Brantley
While Charleston managed to keep things close throughout the game, the USF Bulls took care of business against the Cougars, sneaking away with a closer-than-expected 81-75 victory.
The name of the game in the 1st half was crashing the boards, as USF held a whopping 16-5 advantage in offensive rebounds.
USF also got their usual scorching start from the sharpshooter Joseph Pinion, as he hit 4 straight 3s to begin his night, ending with 15 points in the 1st half on 5-9 shooting from the field.
The bench also contributed mightily, with freshman forward Tristan Beckford contributing 12 points during the period, doing most of his work on the interior but sprinkling in a 3 for good measure.
Beckford and big man Izaiyah Nelson contributed 6 boards each to start the game, with Nelson and fellow forward Daimion Collins combining to play some staunch defense on the interior despite facing a pair of 7 footers from the Cougars.
Charleston only managed 14 points in the paint during the 1st half.
Their usually stellar defense flexed its might in forcing turnovers, with the Cougars committing 7 turnovers over the 1st half and some change.
While they went off and on from their usual full-court-press methods, they went on that run in the 1st half playing their defense straight up, an interesting shift in methodology that seemed to have some success.
The 2nd half was a close contest, with Charleston tying it up at one point with about 14 and a half minutes left in the game and managing to make it quite a good fight off the strength of guard Connor Hickman, who made headlines as he took his fight to retain college eligibility to court over the offseason after playing at Bradley.
Charleston managed to make it tight more or less the whole way through, as the Bulls could never quite put the Cougars away for good, but a late surge with a little under 3 minutes to go put USF ahead for good.
The new football coach Brian Hartline also made an appearance at the beginning of the game, addressing the crowd and giving the usual pep talk that new coaches produce in front of home crowds.
It was well received, as many anticipate the new coach continuing to build on the success that new Auburn coach Alex Golesh established for the program.
The Bulls’ victory over the Cougars took their record to 6-4 for the season, with an undefeated mark at home.
USF’s next matchup is against the 12th-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide next Wednesday at 8 pm, as they travel to Tuscaloosa to face one of their toughest opponents of the season.
Around the conference, the Tulsa Golden Hurricanes have gotten off to a heck of a start in non-conference play, as their 8-1 record entering Wednesday night was the best in the American.
