Merrill lifts Utah St. past South Florida 76-74 in OT

Dec 19, 2019, 04:03 am

HOUSTON -- Sam Merrill had 21 points and Justin Bean made the game-winning bucket at the end of overtime as Utah State defeated South Florida 76-74 in overtime at the Battleground 2K19 on Wednesday night.

Utah State had possession after a timeout with 34 seconds left in overtime and the score tied at 74. The Aggies worked the clock to about 5 seconds and Abel Porter missed a 3-pointer. Bean grabbed the offensive rebound, stepped to the right side of the basket and beat the buzzer with a short bank shot.

A 3-pointer from David Collins gave USF a 64-62 lead with 1:42 remaining in the second half and he later added two free throws for a four-point lead. Utah State's Neemias Queta and Bean both scored in the paint to send the game to overtime.

Queta had 18 points and Bean added 12 points for Utah State (11-2). Alphonso Anderson also had 12 points for the Aggies.

Laquincy Rideau had 15 points for the Bulls (6-5). Collins added 15 points and Xavier Castaneda scored 12.

Both teams play in the Orange Bowl Basketball Classic in Sunrise, Florida, on Saturday. Utah State takes on Florida and South Florida faces Florida State.

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Elements of this story were generated by Automated Insights, http://www.automatedinsights.com/ap, using data from STATS LLC, https://www.stats.com