TAMPA, Fla. - The Marist Men's Basketball team (0-2) lost a hard fought battle with the Big East's University of South Florida (2-0) by a score of 81-67. The Red Foxes held a four point lead as late as 14:41 left to play. Red-shirt junior Dorvell Carter (Bronx, N.Y.) led a group of five Red Foxes, who scored in double figures as he netted 12. Sophomore Adam Kemp (Sherrill, N.Y.) also had a strong effort with 11 points, seven rebounds and four blocks.

In a game that started relatively slow, Tampa native sophomore Jay Bowie jumpstarted the Red Fox offense as he scored the team's first four points.

Over the first 10 minutes of play the teams only combined to net 27 points between them both as each team was fighting hard on the defensive ends. Consequently, neither team led by more than three points during this period.

Marist took a 19-16 lead into the under eight media timeout at 7:35 after junior guard Devin Price (Inglewood, Calif.) found Carter wide open for a three pointer. USF was able to swing the momentum on their side before the next timeout at 2:30 as they outscored the Red Foxes 11-4 with Victor Rudd, Jr. netting the first four points of that span. Freshman Isaiah Morton (Richland, N.J.) kept Marist in it, with four points of his own.

The Red Foxes closed out the half with a 6-5 advantage to go into the half down just three at 32-29.

At the break, Marist was outshooting the Bulls at 42.6 percent (11-26) versus 37.9 percent (11-29).

Coming out after halftime, the Red Foxes' rattled off seven consecutive points to force USF Head Coach Stan Heath to call a timeout just 71 seconds into the second half of play. The defense forced two straight turnovers that transitioned into quick points. The exclamation point to this run was a dunk by Kemp off of a Price assist at 18:50.

Down 36-32, the Bulls responded to the timeout and quickly erased the Red Foxes' lead with a 6-0 run of their own. Undeterred Marist's offense stepped up and converted four consecutive shots, including back-to-back three pointers by Price and Carter to recapture the lead at 46-42 with 14:41.

Following this point in the contest, the Bulls' responded with a 15-0 run over the next 4:09 to retake the lead at 57-46. Rudd, Jr. again was the main facilitator for USF as he scored nine of his team's points.

Undeterred, the Red Foxes' freshman point guard Morton took charge of the offense and single-handedly shaved five points off the Bulls' 11 point lead with a successful three pointer and two foul shots in a 31 second span.

With the score 57-51 with 10:01 to play, USF would go to control play over the next six minutes and extend their lead with a 14-6 run to make the ballgame 71-57 with under four minutes to play.

The game would close with the Red Foxes' getting to within 10 following a Price three pointer at 1:18, but nothing closer as the Bulls would earn the victory with a 81-67 decision.

Over the 40 minutes of play, the Red Foxes would have five players finish in double figure scoring totals: Carter (12), Bowie (11), Kemp (11), Morton (11) and Price (10). Kemp led the team with seven rebounds, as well as with four blocks. Morton led Marist with five assists.

As a team Marist shot 49 percent (24-49) from the field  and 50 percent (7-14) from three-point range, while USF held 49.2 (30-61) and 31.6 (6-19) percentages of their own.

Marist will next be in action on Saturday, Nov. 19 when they travel to the Mohegan Sun to play Vermont in the third game of the 2011 Hall of Fame Tip-Off Classic. The game will begin at 6 p.m.