Gilchrist injured in loss to Penn State

Posted Nov 20, 2011 by Adam Adkins

Updated Nov 20, 2011 at 06:42 PM

The University of South Florida men’s basketball team dropped its second consecutive game Sunday afternoon, falling 53-49 to Penn State in the third-place game at the Hall of Fame Tip-Off at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn., and this one was particularly painful to deal with.

Senior forward Augustus Gilchrist spent the final 25 minutes of the game on the bench with a left shoulder injury, suffered after being fouled while going up for a shot near the rim with 5:18 remaining in the opening half. The severity of the injury to the Bulls’ leading returning scorer from last season wasn’t immediately known.

“We’ll get it looked at and hopefully he can bounce back,” USF coach Stan Heath said on the postgame radio show on 1250 AM.

USF led by six points in the second half before Tim Frazier, who finished with a game-high 27 points, sparked a 12-1 run to help the Nittany Lions go in front.

Blake Nash led the Bulls with 14 points off the bench, and Toarlyn Fitzpatrick also had a strong showing off the bench with 11 points and 10 rebounds. But Victor Rudd, who entered as the Bulls leading scorer this season, struggled from the field, hitting just 2 of 10 shots and finishing with a season-low four points.

“I thought Toarlyn gave us a huge boost and Blake really stepped up as well, but two of the guys we were really counting on in big ways – Vic wasn’t very effective today and Gilchrist was hurt and didn’t play,” Heath said.

USF (3-2) returns to the court Wednesday night against Georgia Southern at the St. Pete Times Forum.