TAMPA – USF is one win away from capturing the College Basketball Invitational title after David Collins delivered a go-ahead floater with 1.7 seconds remaining in the Bulls' 63-61 victory over DePaul on Monday night.

Collins' runner in the lane through traffic helped USF (23-13) set a new program record for wins in a season and gave the Bulls the edge in the best-of-three championship series. The star sophomore from Youngstown, Ohio, finished with a game-high 23 points and his final bucket sent an electric crowd of 2,375 to its feet at the Yuengling Center.



Before the crucial play, Eli Cain nearly set the stage for overtime with a three-pointer with 12 seconds remaining. Despite the equalizer from long range, DePaul (18-16) scored its fewest points in a game this season and finished 17 points below its 2018-19 average.

Hampered early by foul trouble, Alexis Yetna posted 10 points and eight rebounds to help the Bulls grab a 38-33 edge on the glass against the Big East's leader in rebounding margin.

Laquincy Rideau heated up after halftime to score nine of his 15 total points. Xavier Castaneda and Justin Brown added seven points apiece in USF's school record 18^th home win of the season.

USF's defense set the tone early by limiting DePaul to its lowest first-half scoring output of the season on the way to building a 31-25 lead by the break.

Collins was the first player in double figures with 11 points while the Bulls shot nearly 43 percent in the opening half. DePaul went just 8-for-26 from the field (30.8 percent) and one of the Big East's top rebounding teams was edged on the glass by a 23-15 margin in the first 20 minutes.

Back-to-back three-pointers by Collins spotted USF an 11-point advantage with less than 11 minutes to play. DePaul stormed back to take the lead twice and Femi Olujobi's free throws put the Blue Demons ahead, 56-55, with 2:23 remaining.

Rideau answered 29 seconds later with a wide-open three and USF led by as many as four before DePaul evened things up with Cain's final basket from long range. Collins' heroic play and solid defense on DePaul's last-ditch effort paved the way for USF's fourth win of the postseason, another top program mark.

USF has won 13 more games than it did last season, which is tied with UC Irvine for the best win improvement in the NCAA.

USF will look to take a tournament title back home to Tampa when it travels to Chicago for game 2 of the CBI championship series. Action continues 8 p.m. Wednesday at DePaul (TV: ESPNU).