Box Score
(Missoula, MT) – San Francisco fought off a late rally to grab a big 65-62 victory against Montana in non-conference action Thursday night at Dahlberg Arena. The Dons (6-3) trailed by six with less than four minutes remaining against the Grizzlies (4-3) but used a 12-3 run to remain unbeaten (2-0) in true road contests this season.
"This is a tough place to win," USF head coach Rex Walters said. "It's a tough flight coming into here. There was a lot of adversity. We had to fight for everything tonight. The guys were on edge and wanted to come here and get a win."
Senior forward Rashad Green paced the Dons with a game-high 18 points on 8-for-13 shooting with nine rebounds and four steals in 31 minutes. In his last four games, Green has averaged 17.5 points on .568 (25-44) from the floor, .545 (6-11) from 3-point range with 2.5 assists and 2.3 steals per game.
"Rashad made some big plays for us," Walters said. "He was a warrior out there tonight. He is starting to get healthy again."
Sophomore guard Cody Doolin chipped in 11 points, including a 3-pointer to tie and the go-ahead lay-up with 0:35 remaining for a 64-62 edge. It was the fourth time in his young career that Doolin has provided the game-winning lay-up for San Francisco.
"If he shot every shot like it was a crucial possession every single time, he'd be shooting about 75 percent," Walters said. "He is such a hard worker. He's really good in late-game situations."
Senior forward Angelo Caloiaro added 15 points and six boards for USF. The South Bay native moved past Naismith Hall-of-Famer K.C. Jones for the No. 37 spot on the career scoring list, finishing his night with 913 points.
San Francisco shot .421 (24-57) from the field and connected at a .545 (6-11) rate from 3-point range. The Grizzlies hit at a .367 (11-30) clip in the opening period but shot 14-for-27 after the intermission, finishing the game at .439 (25-57). The Dons close their five-game road trip with a 3-2 record.
Despite a big size disadvantage, the Dons held a 36-28 advantage in scoring in the paint and out-rebounded Montana 37-35, 13-10 on the offensive glass.
USF did not trail in the first half and led by as many as nine points before a late run by the Grizzlies made it a three point game in the closing seconds. Caloiaro drilled a 3-pointer to send the Dons to the locker room with a 34-28 lead at the break.
San Francisco returns home to host Pacific Union in a Sunday matinee. Tip-off against the Pioneers is set for 2:00 PM at War Memorial Gym in a game broadcasted live on USFDons.com via Stretch Internet.
NOTES: USF's last five wins have come by a combined 14 points... Dating to last season, the Dons own a 11-2 record in games decided by three points or less or in overtime... USF improves to 4-0 in the all-time series vs. Montana and 2-0 against the Grizzlies in Missoula… Angelo Caloiaro is the 38th player in USF Basketball history to surpass 900 career points… The Dons committed a season-low nine turnovers… San Francisco improves its record against current members of the Big Sky Conference to 24-10.
