SAN FRANCISCO – Charles Minlend clenched his fists, closed his eyes, and crouched down as the ball trickled away near mid-court.
The University of San Francisco men's basketball team had 1.9 seconds left in overtime to get the ball to one of their most dynamic shooters to close a three-point gap, but the in-bound pass tipped off of a Harvard player's fingers. Minlend reached out, but the ball slipped away as the buzzer sounded.
In Monday's 84-81 loss to Harvard (10-4), Minlend was one of the driving forces behind a wild second-half comeback that saw San Francisco (11-4) erase a 15-point deficit: He scored 13 of his 19 points after the half. In arguably its toughest non-conference matchup, though, the Dons came up just short.
"I'm proud of how Charles played," said head coach Todd Golden. "I thought he had his best all-around game of the season … and he kept us in it when we were going the wrong way."
Minlend finished 7-of-13 from the field and pulled down five rebounds, adding an assist and four steals without turning the ball over. He was one of five Dons in double figures, joining point guard Jamaree Bouyea (16), center Jimbo Lull (17 and nine rebounds), Jordan Ratinho (13) and Khalil Shabazz, who scored all of his 16 points after halftime.
Neither team led by more than seven in the first half — and even that was brief — as the Dons kept up with a grinding, physical Harvard team that out-rebounded them 16-8. The lack of rebounding in particular irked Golden, who was disappointed in his team's lack of aggressiveness on the offensive glass. Minlend was more direct: "That's not acceptable."
Despite that deficit, though, the Dons trailed just 30-28 at the break.
USF, though, had arguably its worst 3-point shooting start of the season. The Dons — eighth in the country in 3-pointers per game — hit just one of their first 13 tries from beyond the 3-point line. Harvard — which came in shooting 31.6% from three this season — hit eight of its first 14 (and finished 9-of-17).
"They've been a poor 3-point shooting team this season, but we've been snake-bit in defending the three," Golden said. "Teams are drilling on us. We need to have harder contests, but we're not giving up that many attempts … We're not allowing the attempts, but when they do get them up, they're all going in."
During a 20-6 run in the second half, the Crimson went 10-of-12 from the field and 4-for-6 from three, staking themselves to a 15-point lead with 6:40 left in regulation.
"We just needed one play to get us going," Minlend said. "Our offense was just stagnant."
Finally, a pair of 3-pointers by Shabazz — sandwiched around one from Lull — got the Dons to within four, as a packed War Memorial Gym echoed with "U-S-F!" chants.
Minlend capped the run with a fast-break layup, then added two free throws with just over four minutes to go.
"When you get down by that much, in a sense, it loosens you up," Golden said. "There's not much of an expectation anymore, and guys sensed that. Khalil got going, and Jimbo hit a deep three, with nothing to lose. He just let it fly. We could have used having that mentality more throughout the course of the game."
Minlend then spun on the baseline for a layup of his own off the window to cut the lead to one, and when he stepped back for a 3-point try with under two minutes left in the second half, he came up short, but Bouyea was under the basket to pick up the rebound. The junior point guard calmly stepped into the left corner and splashed in his first three in four tries, tying the game at 71-71 with 1:33 to go in regulation. Bouyea looked up to the ceiling as the crowd jumped out of their seats.
"That was huge," Minlend said.
After a would-be Jordan Ratinho game-winner fell short, the teams headed to overtime. Shabazz — whose 15 second-half points fueled a Dons comeback last week against Fresno State — gave San Francisco the lead with 3:40 to go in the extra period with a reverse layup on the break, but 1:20 later, Christian Juzang took it back with a long two in front of the Harvard bench. Juzang's three from nearly the same spot one minute later gave the Crimson (10-4) a four-point lead.
Bouyea, though, stayed hot, calmly stepping into a 3-pointer from the right wing with 21.9 seconds left in overtime to get the Dons back within one, down 82-81, but that was as close as San Francisco could get. It's the second loss for the Dons in four games this season decided by two possessions or fewer.
"We know who we are," Minlend said. "We've got some things we've got to clean up.
"We waited too long to get going. When you give them too many chances, at the end, sometimes things don't go your way. If we had that run two, three minutes earlier, the game ends up differently."
The Dons will return to action on Thursday when they begin West Coast Conference play by hosting Bay Area rival Saint Mary's. The game will be televised on ESPNU and is slated for an 8:00 p.m. tip-off. The first 1,000 fans in attendance will receive a free Bill Cartwright bobblehead courtesy of the Organic Coup. Tickets are limited but still available at USFDons.com/Tickets.
