Highlights and Post-Game Comments

SAN FRANCISCO – USF and Santa Clara rolled back the clocks on Saturday night and played an up-and-down, hard-nosed, wild overtime thriller reminiscent of some of the epic battles these two old rivals staged back in the 1970s.
 
Fortunately for the Dons, their long night's work was not wasted, as USF defeated the Santa Clara, 89-86 in overtime.
 
Four USF players scored in double figures, led by Devin Watson's 24 points. Ronnie Boyce finished with 22, Tim Derksen added 21 and Uche Ofoegbu chipped in with 12 as the Dons improved to 13-10 overall and 6-6 in the West Coast Conference. Derksen pulled down a game-high 13 rebounds to notch his fifth double-double of the season, while Ofoegbu was also a force on the glass with 12 rebounds.
USF completes the season sweep of Santa Clara, which falls to 8-16 overall and 4-8 in conference play.
 
Three Broncos hit double figures, led by freshman guard KJ Feagin's 23 points. Jared Brownridge finished with 18 and Matt Hubbard added 12. Brownridge was held in check for most of the night by Ofoegbu, who frustrated the WCC's second-leading scorer into a 5-for-15 shooting night, including 0-for-6 from three-point range.
 
"Uche did an outstanding job in guarding Brownridge again tonight, as did Chase Foster at times," said USF head coach Rex Walters. "It's hard to stop a guy who has the ultimate green light like he has. Our post players, Dont'e Reynolds, Matt McCarthy and Nate Renfro, were also solid in keeping (Nate) Kratch in check."
 
The Dons shot 40.3 percent for the night while the Broncos could muster just 41 percent from the floor.
 
USF was in the driver's seat for most of regulation, building a 12-point, 45-33 lead at halftime which increased to as many as 17 points in the second half. With USF's lead at 11 at 65-54 with 12:20 left, Santa Clara went on an 8-0 run, keyed by back-to-back three-pointers by Brendyn Taylor and Feagin to cut the Dons' lead to 65-62 with 9:10 remaining.
 
USF built its lead back to eight points at 76-68 advantage with 4:32 left when Santa Clara ripped off a 8-2 run to cut the lead to 78-76 with :32 left following a Feagin jumper.
 
Following the Feagin score, USF was whistled for a five second violation inbounding the ball, giving possession back to the Broncos. Taylor converted a layup with :27 to tie the score at 78 and the game went into overtime when Watson misfired on a contested jumper.
 
With the momentum clearly shifted to Santa Clara, the Broncos opened up a three-point, 83-80 lead when Brownridge connected from the corner at the 2:52 mark of the extra period. The Dons then scored five straight points – all from the line – to take a 85-83 lead with 1:39 left.
 
With USF nursing a one-point lead, Boyce nailed a pull up jumper just outside the lane to give the Dons an 87-84 advantage. Brownridge nailed a jumper with :10 left to cut the lead back to one  at 87-86. Watson was fouled by Watson on the inbounds play and made both free throws with :06 left to give USF an 89-86 lead.
 
Needing a three to tie, Boyce fouled Matt Hauser on the inbounds play. Hauser missed both free throws but after Feagin gathered the second miss, his potential game-tying three-pointer was blocked by Ofoegbu, ending the game.
 
"I thought we played really good for about 30 minutes and finished the first half great," said Walters. "I thought we relaxed at times in the second half and that's something you can never do against any team, especially a rivalry game. That said, it was good enough to get a W. We had to play an extra five minutes to do it, but we'll take it."
 
USF will return to action on Thursday night when the Dons play host to the BYU Cougars beginning at 7:00 p.m. in War Memorial at The Sobrato Center.