Strus carries DePaul past South Florida to even CBI series

CHICAGO (AP) — Max Strus scored 20 of his 32 points in the first half to lead DePaul to a 100-96 overtime win over South Florida in the second game of the best-of-three College Basketball Invitational championship on Wednesday night.

Paul Reed scored a career-high 28 points plus 16 rebounds and three blocks for DePaul (19-16). Femi Olujobi added 14 points.

Reed sank a 3-pointer to give DePaul an 82-79 lead, but he missed the front end of a 1-and-1 with 57.4 seconds left in regulation. USF worked the ball around the arc and Alexis Yetna made a 3-pointer to tie it at 29.6. After a timeout, Strus dribbled down the clock but nearly turned it over as time expired.

Lyrik Shreiner got into the lane and made a contested layup to extend DePaul’s lead to 94-88 with 1:41 left in overtime and the Blue Demons made just enough free throws down the stretch to hold off USF.

DePaul is undefeated (4-0) when scoring at least 100 points this season.

Laquincy Rideau had a career-high 35 points and eight assists in the losing effort for the visitors. Yetna had 26 points and 13 rebounds for the Bulls (23-14). Justin Brown added 13 points.