Halftime: St. John’s 35, USF 24

Posted Feb 20, 2010 by Scott Carter

Updated Feb 20, 2010 at 02:05 PM

The first half is over here at the Sun Dome, and that’s good news for the USF men’s basketball team.

The Bulls trail St. John’s 35-24 at halftime, the Bulls’ second-largest halftime deficit of the season. They trailed Syracuse by 12 in a 82-65 road loss on Jan. 10.

Here are some reasons why the Bulls trail:

+ St. John’s shot 57.7 percent in the first half, and the Red Storm owns a 18-10 rebound advantage.

+ USF junior Dominique Jones didn’t score in the final 12 minutes, 30 seconds of the first half. Jones scored seven points in the first half, tied with fellow G Chris Howard for the team lead.

+ USF’s big men—Augustus Gilchrist, Jarrid Famous, Toarlyn Fitzpatrick and Alex Rivas—combined for two points on 1-of-7 shooting.

+ The Bulls relied too heavily on outside shooting in the first 20 minutes, 10 of their 24 their shots coming from 3-point distance.

Check back later for second-half updates.