Augustus Gilchrist collected 23 points and seven rebounds, leading South Florida to a 76-63 victory over Georgia Southern in the first round of the eight-team South Padre Island Invitational on Sunday.
Toarlyn Fitzpatrick added 13 points and nine rebounds for South Florida (2-2). Jarrid Famous and Jawanza Poland finished with 12 and 10, respectively, for the Bulls.
Ben Drayton scored 19 points to lead Georgia Southern. Spencer finished with 17 and Eric Ferguson added 13 for the Eagles, who shot 39 percent (23-for-59), hitting only 2 of 14 from behind the arc.
Gilchrist was 8-for-8 from the floor. He hit five first-half shots as the Bulls hit 63 percent en route to a 39-30 lead at the break. They finished at 60 percent (24-for-40) overall.
South Florida led 12-2 before Rory Spencer made the first field goal for Georgia Southern (2-2) nearly six minutes into the game.
South Florida also had a 12-2 run to go up by 17 midway through the second half, but Georgia Southern immediately responded with nine unanswered points to cut the deficit to 57-49 with 8:40 remaining.
