DePaul 69, South Florida 61

2/9/2008 3:44 PM

ROSEMONT, Ill. (AP) -Draelon Burns scored 22 points and Will Walker added 21 points as DePaul overcame a 16-point deficit to beat South Florida 69-61 on Saturday afternoon.

Trailing 32-21 at the half, DePaul (10-13, 5-6 Big East) opened the second half by outscoring South Florida 10-3. Cliff Clinkscales found Mac Koshwal under the basket to cut the Bulls lead to 35-31.

Walker and the Blue Demons took control of the game midway through the second half. Walker scored 10 points during a 2:50 span where they outscored South Florida 12-3. Walker started the run with a 3 to tie the game at 45 with with 10:36 left and hit another 3 to extend the DePaul lead to 54-48 with 7:48 left. DePaul never trailed again.

Kentrell Gransberry scored 18 points and had 14 rebounds for South Florida (10-14, 1-10), who have lost 10 straight games.

The Blue Demons shot 50 percent from the floor in the second half after they only shot 23.3 percent in the first half.

DePaul freshman Dar Tucker scored all 11 of his points in the first half as the Blue Demons snapped a four-game losing streak.

Jesus Verdejo scored six quick points as the Bulls jumped out to a 15-3 lead. Mobolaji Ajayi's basket help build a 16-point lead, making it 29-13 with 5:40 left in the half. Solomon Bozeman hit a 3 with 59 seconds left in the half to give the Bulls a 32-21 lead at the half.

Dominique Jones led South Florida with nine points in the half and finished with 11.