What homecourt advantage? Bulls beat host Brazil with drama at end

Posted Aug 12, 2010 by Scott Carter

Updated Aug 12, 2010 at 04:07 PM

Let’s see if I get this right.

The USF men’s basketball is in a foreign country (Brazil), playing a foreign team (Brazil), and a foreign player (a Brazilian) makes a shot at the buzzer that the scorekeeper rules a 3-pointer to tie the game.

Overtime, right?

Not so fast. Evidently, those Brazilian referees at the Pan American University Championships are an honest bunch.

The referees determined the shooter’s foot was on the line, thus turning Brazil’s game-tying 3-pointer into a 2-point shot and a 64-63 win for Team USA—aka South Florida.

The win was USF’s third consecutive in the event. Unlike in their first two wins—the Bulls outscored Colombia and Chile by 107 points—Wednesday’s game was more challenging.

USF is off today, then scheduled to play Paraguay in the semifinals with a potential rematch against Brazil in the finals.

“We were very fortunate to win,” USF coach Stan Heath told his son Jordan, who is doing a blog for the school’s website. “Give Brazil a lot of credit. They executed and controlled tempo very well. We were up 10 late and let it slip away. We don’t want to look past our semifinal opponent in Paraguay, but if we win, it will set up a terrific final rematch with Brazil.”

Shawn Noriega led the Bulls with 14 points.