Tyler Harris opened Monday night's game at Northern Iowa by hitting three straight triples and scoring the first 11 points for the University of South Florida Bulls.

The fifth-year senior ended the evening with a game-winning three-pointer from the logo at the buzzer to secure a 72-69 victory for South Florida.

USF (4-6) has now won four of its last five games and scored at least 70 points in each of those wins. Northern Iowa falls to 3-7 with the loss.

Not only did Harris lead the Bulls with 18 points, including the final dagger, but locked down Northern Iowa's Bowen Born defensively to the tune of four points. Born, who entered the contest ranked 16th in the NCAA in scoring average (20.7 ppg), was held scoreless until there was just 55.8 seconds left in the game and connected on just one field goal.

"Obviously everyone will talk about Tyler's game-winning shot, but for him to defend Born the way he did was just tremendous," said head coach Brian Gregory. "We played with great energy in the first half, but lost that pace over the final six minutes before break, and that was disappointing. Northern Iowa is a great team with an excellent tradition, and we knew they'd fight back. The intensity we played with defensively in the second half was great to see."

The Bulls led by as many as 14 points in the first half before taking a 42-41 edge into halftime. USF built its lead back to double digits, 59-49, at the 11:14 mark of the second half, but the Panthers continued to claw back.

Northern Iowa cut its deficit to 65-61 with 55 seconds left to play before Ryan Conwell knocked down a pair of big free throws on USF's next possession. The Panthers answered with an old-fashioned three-point play, and after a fastbreak bucket by Harris, the home team connected from downtown to make it a 68-67 contest with 20 seconds left on the clock.

The Panthers ultimately tied the game at 69-69 with 4.8 seconds left on the clock on Born's one and only field goal of the game to set up Harris' heroics from near half court.

Notable

• After starting the game 3-for-3 from downtown, Harris went 1-for-8 from beyond the arc for the remainder of the night before hitting the game-winner.
• Harris has knocked down five three-pointers three times this season.
• The Bulls improved to 42-14 under Brian Gregory when scoring at least 70 points.
• Selton Miguel came off the bench Monday to provide 17 points.
• Russel Tchewa chipped in 10 points and a team-high eight rebounds.
• USF forced 17 UNI turnovers and converted those into 23 points, including 21 fastbreak points.

Up Next

The Bulls return to Tampa to begin a three-game homestand on Friday, December 16 against Dartmouth at the Yuengling Center.