Box Score
SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. -- With members from the 1949 NIT and 1955-56 NCAA Championship teams watching from courtside, USF turned in its most complete game of the season and were rewarded with a 81-65 victory over visiting St. John's Tuesday night in Memorial Gymnasium.
De'End Parker scored a team-high 21 points while
Cody Doolin finished with 18 points to go along with a career-best 14 assists as the Dons won their fifth straight to improve to 5-1 on the season. Redshirt freshman
Mark Tollefsen came off the bench to score 11 points while Tim Derksen added 10.
St. John's, led by JaKarr Sampson's 22 points, fell to 6-3.
For the fourth straight game, USF shot at least 50 percent from the field but were outrebounded for the first time this season, 37-34.
The two teams were never separated by more than six points in the first half before the Dons took a three-point cushion into the break, 38-35. Parker and freshman Avry Holmes each had nine first half points for the Dons.
USF went on a 14-2 tear to start the second half and opened a 52-37 lead with 15:57 remaining, with Parker keying the run with five of his 12 second half points.
St. John's weathered the storm and cut the Dons lead to three at 59-56 with 7:41 left.
A layup by Doolin and three free throws by Parker after he was fouled on a three-point attempt pushed the Dons lead back to eight at 64-56 with 6:23 left.
USF was still nursing an eight point lead at 68-60 with 4:56 left before Doolin keyed a 6-0 run with a pair of free throws and a driving layout to give the Dons a 14-point advantage at 74-60 with 2:21 left.
All told, Doolin scored 16 of his 18 points in the second half, made five of eight shots from the floor and added two blocks and a pair of steals to round out an impressive stat line.
"It seems like it's a different player every night -- that's the beauty of this team," said head coach
Rex Walters. "It was a great night for Cody. He has a great motor. He made a lot of winning plays and handled their pressure very well. It was a big time performance."
"Our guys really executed our game plan," said Walters. "We'll take it -- it's a good win. They've got some big time players over there."
USF will bext be in action on Saturday night, when the Dons meet the Pacific Tigers in Stockton with tip time set for 5:00 p.m. at the Spanos Center.
Men's Basketball vs. St. John's Gallery
More photos from Tuesday's contest can be seen on our Flickr page
