PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Behind 23 points from Victor Rudd, South Florida won its first game as a member of the American Athletic Conference with an 82-75 victory over Temple on Thursday.
After Temple’s Anthony Lee missed two free throws with his team trailing by three and 1:01 to play, Rudd hit a step-back jumper with 29 seconds left to give the Bulls (10-6, 1-2 American) a cushion down the stretch.
Rudd tied Lee for the game-high in scoring and had 10 boards to finish with a double-double.
Temple (5-8, 0-3) led by as much as 10 on three separate occasions — including twice in the second half — but could not pull away from USF. The Bulls took their first lead of the second half, 70-69, with six minutes to play after back-to-back threes from Musa Abdul-Aleem during a 16-3 run and didn’t trail again.
