MORAGA, Calif. – USF's frustration against Saint Mary's continued on Monday as the Dons dropped a 74-52 decision to the Gaels in the West Coast Conference opener for both schools in McKeon Pavilion.
 
USF falls to 6-5 on the year while Saint Mary's improves to 9-1. The Gaels have now won 20 of the last 21 games in the series, including the last 13 in Moraga.
 
Uche Ofoegbu led all USF scorers with 13 points, all which came in the first half, while Ronnie Boyce III came off the bench to chip in 10. USF's two leading scorers, Devin Watson and Tim Derksen, who came into the game averaging 35 points a game, combined for just 10 points on 3-of-25 shooting from the floor.
 
Saint Mary's was paced by Evan Fitzner's career high 20 points while Joe Rahon added 14 and Emmett Naar finished with 13. Dane Pineau pulled down 14 rebounds. The Gaels, the top three-point shooting team in the country, made 10-of-23 of their shots from distance and shot 50 percent from the field for the game. USF shot a season-low 28.3 percent (17-of-60) for the game.
 
The Gaels also used their size to score 32 points in the paint.
 
USF, which never led in the game, made just three of their first 13 shots from the floor and fell behind 16-9 midway through the first half. The Gaels then went on a 9-3 run to open a 25-12 lead with 9:22 left, forcing a USF timeout. With Saint Mary's leading 30-17 with 7:29 left, the Dons scored seven straight points to cut the lead to 30-24 but the Gaels quickly boosted the lead back up to 13 with seven consecutive points and took a 43-28 lead into intermission.
 
Ofoegbu made all four of his shots from the floor, including three from distance, en route to 13 first half points.
 
The Gaels extended their lead to 21 points at 62-41 midway through the first half and built as much as a 26 point cushion at 70-44 with 4:29 left.
 
"Tim and Devin had off nights – hopefully they will have short memories and bounce back strong on Wednesday," said head coach Rex Walters. "I'm disappointed with the way we guarded the basketball and we had a hard time matching up with their bigs. Saint Mary's is a real good team and they did a great job in taking advantage of some mismatches."
 
USF will return to action Wednesday night to play host to the Pacific Tigers in War Memorial at The Sobrato Center. Tip-off is set for 7:00 p.m.