South Florida plays U.Va.‘s game with tough ‘D’

TAMPA, Fla. - Dominique Jones had 22 points, seven rebounds, four assists and four steals to lead South Florida to a 66-49 victory over cold-shooting Virginia.

The Bulls (2-0) began the second half with a 17-5 run to take a 48-32 lead with 14 minutes remaining in the game. The closest Virginia (1-1) got the rest of the way was 10 points. The Cavaliers were held to one field goal in the final seven minutes.

Augustus Gilchrist had 18 points for South Florida, and Jarrid Famous finished with 12 points and eight rebounds.

Sylven Landesberg had 14 points to lead Virginia, which shot just under 32.7 percent (17 of 52).

Virginia played without two key players. Center Assane Sene is serving a three-game suspension for conduct detrimental to the team and forward Jamil Tucker is taking an indefinite leave of absence from the team to attend to a personal matter.

A third player, Calvin Baker, played 15 minutes and scored five points after missing the Cavaliers' season opener against Longwood while recovering from arthroscopic surgery on his right knee.

South Florida led 31-27 at the half, shooting 54.7 percent from the field and getting 13 points on 6-of-10 shooting from Jones, who finished 10 for 18. Jones was held to just 13 points in USF's season-opening victory at SMU on Friday.

Virginia shot 36.7 percent (11 for 30) in the opening half and was even worse (6 for 22, 27.3 percent) after the break. Three starters - Mustapha Farrakhan, Jeff Jones and Sammy Zeglinski - missed 9 of 10 3-point attempts and went 5 for 23 overall.

Mike Scott, who had 12 points and 13 rebounds in Virginia's season opener, scored nine before fouling out with 8:35 to go.

The Cavaliers trimmed their deficit to 53-43 on a 3-pointer by Baker, but continued to sputter. Virginia was limited the rest of the way to four free throws and Jontel Evans' jumper in the final minute.

VIRGINIA (1-0)

3-point goals - Virginia (2-12): Baker 1-1, Jones 1-7, Landesberg 0-1, Zeglinski 0-1, Farrakhan 0-2. S. Florida (5-11): Leemow 3-3, Gilchrist 1-1, Jones 1-4, Howard 0-1, Mercer 0-1, Dumars 0-1.

Turnovers - Virginia (9): Evans 4, Spurlock 2, Zeglinski 2, Farrakhan. S. Florida (14): Gilchrist 6, Howard 2, Mercer 2, Famous, Fitzpatrick, Jones.

Blocked shots - Virginia (1): Zeglinski. S. Florida (4): Gilchrist 3, Famous.

Steals - Virginia (5): Zeglinski 2, Evans, Meyinsse, Jones. S. Florida (9): Jones 4, Fitzpatrick, Leemow.

A - 4,193.