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November 28, 1997

CAGUAS, Puerto Rico -- Scott Johnson scored a team-high 16 points, including the game winner with 14 seconds left in overtime, to give seventh-seeded South Florida a 61-59 upset over second-seeded Washington State Friday night in the opening round of the San Juan Shoot.

The Cougars (2-1 overall) will meet No. 6 seed Pennsylvania (1-2 overall) Saturday at 2 p.m. AST (10 a.m. PST). WSU senior Rodrigo de la Fuente led all scorers with 21 points. Senior Carlos Daniel, who played 42 minutes after a mild knee sprain against BYU Nov. 19, had 12 points and sophomore Chris Crosby added 11 points.

WSU held a slim 28-27 halftime lead, then exploded with a 16-2 run to start the third quarter as Crosby scored the first seven points of the period. A 3-point basket by Blake Pengelly, back-to-back offensive rebound baskets by Leif Nelson and a jump shot by de la Fuente pushed WSU's lead to 44-28.

South Florida still trailed by 14 points to start the fourth quarter, but outscored the Cougars 14-3 to send the game to overtime. WSU got just one point in the first eight minutes, 20 seconds of the period on a free throw by de la Fuente.

The Bulls took a 51-49 lead on a pair of made free throws by Anddrickk Frazier at the 2:08 mark, and Crosby sent the game to overtime with a jumper at 1:40 to play. Daniel saved the game in the waning moments of regulation as he swatted a driving shot by Brian Lamb.

Slotemaker had a chance to force a second overtime when he received an interior pass from Daniel, but Slotemaker missed the layup and the final buzzer sounded as the ball hit the floor.

Quotes From Head Coach Kevin Eastman - "We became tentative in the second half. We're going to have a problem with speed all year. When (South Florida) got aggressive defensively, we had difficulties."

Eastman about the last play - "Carlos read the double-team well, spun baseline and dished to Steve. Steve had the opportunity to dunk the ball, but he changed the shot."