Post-Game Comments and Highlights

SAN FRANCISCO  – USF picked up its fourth win in five games on Saturday night defeating Pacific 65-55 in Memorial Gymnasium to complete the season sweep of the Tigers.
 
USF finishes the regular season with an overall record of 13-17 and 7-11 in the West Coast Conference. The Dons tied Portland and Santa Clara for sixth place in the conference standings but as a result of a three-way tiebreaker, USF will be seeded eighth in next week's WCC Championship in Las Vegas.
 
The Dons will meet the ninth-seed Pacific in a first round game on Friday beginning at 6:00 p.m. in Orleans Arena. The winner will advance to play top-seed Gonzaga on Saturday at 6:00 p.m.
 
If the Dons are to beat the Tigers for the third time this season next week in Las Vegas, Rex Walters hopes to see the same second half effort the Dons showed tonight when USF pulled away from Pacific midway through the second half.
 
It's only fitting that on senior night Kruize Pinkins would lead four Dons in double figures with 18 points. Pinkins made 7-of-10 shots from the field, including both of his three-point attempts. Mark Tollefsen added 14 and Devin Watson and Tim Derksen chipped in 12 each to lead a balanced USF scoring sheet.
 
David Taylor was the only Pacific player to reach double figures with 16 points. Tiger leading scorer T.J. Wallace was held to nine points but managed to pull down a game-high 10 rebounds.
 
USF shot 51.9 percent from the field in the second half to overcome a two-point, 29-27 deficit at intermission.
 
"I'm very proud of our seniors," said head coach Rex Walters. "Senior Night is always an emotional game and it was good to see Kruize get going early and finish strong. Devin (Watson) also got it going in the second half and made some real big shots."
  
The two teams were tied at 40 with 13:18 left in the game when USF went on a 9-2 run to seize control of the contest and build a 49-42 advantage with 10:11 remaining.
 
After the Tigers cut the lead to 49-45 on a Wallace three-pointer, a layup by Watson and a slam by Tollefsen off a Matt Glover assist boosted the Dons lead back to eight at 53-45.
 
The Tigers could get no closer than six points down the stretch before succumbing by the final score of 65-55.
 
The Dons took advantage of 18 Pacific turnovers which led to 24 points and also managed to score 36 points in the paint against a large Tiger frontline.
 
"I thought we did a good job in our trapping and we did change up a couple of coverages in the rotations," said Walters. "We trapped off different guys and changed some things in our ball screen defenses. We've been pretty good defensively in four out of out last five games."
 
The Dons head to Las Vegas having won four out of its last five games and face a Pacific team it has defeated twice this season and four times in a row dating back to last year. Walters feels the Dons are playing some of their best basketball late in the year.
 
"We weren't the most confident group going into league play but we are four points from being 9-9," said Walters. "I believe we are starting to feel we are a good team. With the exception of the Saint Mary's game, we've been playing some good basketball. It's a major challenge to play Pacific again. We have a week to prepare and so do they. They will play with nothing to lose but so will we. Let it rip."
 
Friday's USF-Pacific game will tip-off at 6:00 p.m. and will be televised by BYUtv.