SAN FRANCISCO – With 3:50 left in the contest center Jimbo Lull gave the University of San Francisco men's basketball team an 81-79 lead and the crowd in War Memorial at the Sobrato Center was deafening.  Unfortunately for the Dons, in the final minutes Gonzaga went on their largest run of the night closing out the game on a 15-2 run to earn a hard fought 96-83 win on Saturday. 
 
The final score was not indicative of the game as a whole.  USF (14-3, 2-1 WCC) stood toe-to-toe with the fifth ranked team.  Saturday's tilt featured 15 ties and eight lead changes as the Dons refused to give in.  Every time Gonzaga (16-2, 3-0 WCC) appeared to go on a run the Dons responded.  Case in point, with 6:50 to go in the first half Rui Hachimura hit a jumper in the paint to give the Bulldogs a 31-21 advantage.  But USF battled back going on a 16-6 run to go into the locker room knotted up at 37 thanks to a Frankie Ferrari jumper with three seconds remaining.
 
Ferrari was brilliant on Saturday evening. The Burlingame native finished with a season-high 21 points going 7-for-15 from the floor and a perfect 5-for-5 from the charity stripe.  The Dons senior co-captain was one of six USF players to finish in double figures. Charles Minlend had 14, followed by Nate Renfro and Matt McCarthy's 12, Lull and Jordan Ratinho had 10 apiece.
 
Gonzaga was led by Brandon Clarke's game-high 24 points, he was joined by Hachimura who had 21, Josh Perkins with 16, Killian Tillie with 14 and Zach Norvell Jr. with 13.
 
Out of the intermission, the Bulldogs scored two quick buckets and got two stops to go up four.  Head coach Kyle Smith sensed danger and quickly called a 30 second timeout to let his guys regroup.  Out of that timeout Renfro tipped in a miss from a jumper by Ferrari and the Dons got back into a rhythm.
 
The second half was a battle, with Ferrari scoring 15 of his 21 during the final period. USF looked like serious upset contenders when Ferrari was fouled in the act of shooting a 3-point field goal and calmly drained all three foul shots to give USF a 75-74 edge with 5:24 to play, it was the Dons' first lead since midway through the first half.
 
Gonzaga finally took the lead for good when Norvell junior hit a triple at the top of the key to break a tie at 81 with 2:57 left.  After getting a stop, the Bulldogs went up six on a 3-point field goal by Geno Crandall which put the Dons down six with 2:13 to play.  From there free throws helped put the game out of reach for good for Gonzaga.
 
GAME NOTES

• The Dons had a season-high six players score in double figures tonight.  It is the first time in the Kyle Smith era that the Dons have had six players finish with at least 10.
• The Dons finished the night with 15 offensive rebounds, third most they have recorded all season.  They turned those 15 rebounds into 25 second chance points.
• The Dons entered tonight 45-12 under Kyle Smith when they score at least 70, for the second time this season the Dons came away with the loss after scoring at 80 or more.  The other was at the hands of No. 21 Buffalo 85-81 in Belfast.
• USF was solid at the free throw line tonight.  USF entered tonight's game the shooting 66.3 percent from the charity stripe but went 19-for-25 for a 76.0 percent mark.  It is the fifth time this season USF has shot 70 percent or better.  In the second half tonight, the Dons were 17-for-19.

 
NEXT UP
The Dons will head back on the road on Thursday when they travel to Stockton, Calif., to take on the Pacific Tigers at the Spanos Center. The game is slated for a 6:00 p.m. tip and will be televised on NCBS BA.