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Burns, Walker turn up heat for DePaul in 2nd half

During virtually every DePaul practice, shooting guards Draelon Burns and Will Walker line up across from each other and go to war.

"We try to compete real hard, talk a lot of stuff to each other," Walker said. "It picks our game up a lot and brings up our intensity, makes us practice even to the next level when we start talking to each other."

For the first 20 minutes of South Florida's visit to the Allstate Arena, none of the Blue Demons did any talking or displayed any intensity against the Big East's worst team.

"Me speaking (for) myself, I just wasn't loose yet," Burns said. "I was trying to get loose, but I wasn't feeling it the first half."

But the second half? Burns and Walker got into one of their wild practice wars, but only South Florida suffered.

Burns, the senior, scored 20 of his game-high 22 points after intermission. Walker, the sophomore, recorded 15 of his career-high 21 in the second half.

Considering South Florida managed just 29 points after the break, the talktastic duo's efforts essentially enabled DePaul to erase its 11-point halftime deficit and earn a 69-61 Big East victory before an announced 8,992.

Burns drilled 2 quick 3-pointers from the top of the key to trigger the second-half charge, then Walker scored 13 points in less than four minutes to finish the comeback.

DePaul took its first lead (and the lead for good) with 8:44 to go when Walker dribbled around a high Wesley Green screen, spun in the lane and bounced a fadeaway off the rim and in while getting fouled.

"What they're really good at, they're very good individual 1-on-1 players," said South Florida coach Stan Heath. "They can make a shot, make a play."

DePaul (10-13, 5-6), which snapped a four-game losing streak, hardly made any shots or plays in the first half.

South Florida (10-14, 1-10) jumped out to a 29-13 lead as the Blue Demons missed 22 of their first 26 shots.

DePaul coach Jerry Wainwright thought the errant marksmanship might be attributable to his team's recent struggles.

"People start to question you," Wainwright said. "You read in the newspaper, and I don't mean this in a bad way, 'Lukewarm, cold, freezing, (stinks),' whatever you want to say.

"All of a sudden, you see your name going into those categories … I think guys start to wear it. You've got to have some fun at this."

That's all Burns, Walker and point guard Cliff Clinkscales, who teamed up to play 58 of a possible 60 second-half minutes, needed to hear.

"When Coach left out (of the locker room at halftime)," Burns said, "we told each other we're just going to keep shooting. Hopefully theirs miss and ours start making."

After combining to go 0-for-3 from 3-point range in the first half, Burns and Walker hit 6 of 9 3-pointers after the break.

Clinkscales, meanwhile, served as the triggerman for several transition baskets that kept everyone's spirits soaring.

"I told them at one (second-half) timeout," Wainwright said, " 'You know what? It's fun watching you guys because it looks like you're having fun.' "

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