Box Score
STOCKTON, Calif. -- USF is finding out nothing worthwhile comes easy, but after Thursday night's 81-72 overtime win at Pacific, the Dons (11-6, 4-1) will bus back to the City tied with Gonzaga for first place in the West Coast Conference.
For the second consectutive game, USF used a strong second half to overcome its first half deficiencies before outscoring the Tigers (9-6, 0-4 WCC) 18-9 in the overtime period.
Avry Holmes led a balanced USF scoring attack with 18 points while
Matt Glover added 16 and
Cole Dickerson 10. The Dons shot 42.9 percent from the field for the game and limited the Tigers to 9-of-36 shooting from the floor after intermission.
Andrew Bock had a team-high 17 points to pace four Tigers in double figures.
Pacific took a 36-30 lead into intermission and led by seven points at 43-36 four minutes into the second period.
USF then went on a 14-8 run, capped off by a Holmes three-pointer, to tie the game at 44. Â The Dons upped their lead to six at 54-48 midway through the second half only to see the Tigers score eight of the next 10 points to tie the game at 56 with 4:25 left.
With Pacific leading 61-60 with 45 seconds remaining, Holmes' acrobatic layup gave the Dons a 62-61 lead with 37 seconds left, but missed free throws by USF left the door open for the Tigers to tie the game at 63 on a Sama Taku layup with six seconds left.
Glover took the inbounds pass to just inside the three-point line but misfired on a potential game-winning shot at the buzzer.
The overtime period was all USF, as the Dons scored the first five point of extra time and led by as many as 10 points at 79-69 before winning by the final count of 81-72.
USF will return to action Saturday afternoon when the Dons meet Saint Mary's, which fell at home to Santa Clara tonight, beginning at 3:00 p.m. in Moraga.
Rex Walters' Post-Game Comments
"I really proud of our guys. We had to chance somethings up at halftime and I think they responded really well in the second half. We had some guys in foul trouble but we had some guys step up just to keep us in the game. Then a lot of guys just made plays down the stretch."
"So many different guys stepped up.
Matt Glover's defense on Bock (Andrew) in the second half was really key."
"We haven't had a lot of success here over the years but our guys found a way to get it done. We'll enjoy the heck out of this one but get right back into the process tomorrow."
"When we hold a team to 31 percent shooting on the road, we're going to win a lot of games. We weren't really in a flow ourselves tonight. We had to really grind and work."
"Mark (Tollefsen) is really starting to find himself playing at the three spot. He can score in a lot of ways and he played real gutsy defense tonight, even in foul trouble."
