Nov 25, 2001

Final Stats

CORAOPOLIS, Pa. (AP) - South Florida guard Reggie Kohn knows his role is to run the Bulls' offense, not score a lot of points. But Sunday in the championship game of the University Hoops Classic at Robert Morris College he couldn't help himself.

Kohn scored 18 points and connected on two pressure 3-pointers in the final five minutes to help South Florida (4-0) to a 69-63 victory against Pitt.

His biggest shot of the game came after Pitt's Julius Page made a 3-pointer from the right baseline with 4:22 left to play. That cut South Florida's lead to 56-55. Kohn got free on the ensuing play and tossed in a 3-pointer to up the advantage to four.

Page hit a layup to trim the margin to 59-57, but Kohn answered with a 3-pointer from well outside the arc to put the Bulls on top by five.

"Reggie Kohn made some big shots in the second half," South Florida coach Seth Greenberg said. "Let's face it, we made some tough shots when we needed to.

"That pull-up three is a shot I know I can make and it's a shot the coaches want me to take," said Kohn, who finished five of nine from 3-point range. "Mostly, it's my job to run the team. My scoring is going to be up and down, depending on how teams play us defensively."

Pitt (5-1) had to give Kohn a little leeway to cover Altron Jackson, the Bull's 6-foot-6 swingman who scored 17 of his game-high 22 points in the first half. Jackson was also named tournament MVP.

"I thought their point guard made some huge shots for them," Pitt coach Ben Howland said. "We did a good job of handling their pressure. That was a big concern of mine coming in."

Pitt turned the ball over just nine times but the Panthers didn't shoot the ball well. They made just nine of 32 field-goal attempts in the first half and made just 23 of 68 (33.8 percent) of their shots.

Brandin Knight, who scored 15 points along with Page, tossed in a layup with 2:20 left move Pitt back to within three points, but the Panthers then began putting South Florida on the free-throw line.

South Florida made six of 10 free throws in the final 2:06. Pitt, meanwhile, missed three 3-point shots in the final minute.

Pitt made just eight of 31 shots from 3-point range, while South Florida was 11 of 19 from outside the arc.

"I'm never happy about losing, but we grew as a team in this tournament," Howland said. "This was our sixth game in nine days and of the 31 (3-point) shots we took, 25 were good ones."