Lull and the Dons Muscle Their Way Past Broncos

Saturday, February 9

San Francisco

8:00 P.M.

University of San Francisco

18-6, 6-4WCC

Santa Clara

13-12, 5-6WCC

Santa Clara

San Francisco

Jimbo-Lull-USF-Dons-Mens-Basketball-vs-SCU

Photo by: Christina Leung

2/9/2019 11:22:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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SAN FRANCISCO — The University of San Francisco's men's basketball team was tested by the Santa Clara Broncos from the beginning to the end, but it was the Dons who pulled away with a 78-72 win thanks to a terrific night at the foul line Saturday evening at War Memorial at the Sobrato Center.

USF (18-6, 6-4 WCC) got contributions throughout the lineup, as eight-of-the-nine players who saw action scored at least three points. The Dons were very efficient from the field shooting 46.4 percent for the game and shot 83.3 percent from the charity stripe going 20-for-24, including a 9-for-11 stretch in the second half to put the game out of reach.

Jimbo Lull finished the game with a team-high of 16 points and nine rebounds, followed by three other Dons who scored in double-figures. Frankie Ferrari and Charles Minlend finished with 14 points each, and Nate Renfro added 11.

Santa Clara made it interesting with three minutes left in the game, cutting the Dons lead to three points forcing head coach Kyle Smith to call a timeout. Out of the break, the Dons got plenty of good looks in the corner, but the ball would not go down. The bucket of the night came when Lull fought through multiple defenders and finished with a solid layup in the key to give the Dons a six point cushion, up 69-63. Ferrari put the game away from there, hitting six of seven from the charity stripe.

At the half, San Francisco shot 45.8 percent from the field with every single Don scoring a point or more. Jordan Ratinho led with eight points followed by Lull, Ferrari and Bouyea who scored six points each.

Santa Clara had three players in double figures and was led by Josip Vrankic's game-high 24 points. He also had 15 rebounds for a double-double. The Broncos outrebounded the Dons 40-26 on the evening and owned the paint, scoring 40 of their 72 points inside the key.

GAME NOTES

After finishing the game with two made 3-point field goals, Jordan Ratinho broke a tie at third all-time with John Cox and moved into a tie for second all-time in USF history with Angelo Caloiaro (2008-12) with 187 made 3-point field goals. First all-time in USF history is Ali Thomas with 236.
With the victory tonight, head coach Kyle Smith earned his 60th at USF. Smith improves to 60-36 at the helm of the Dons. His current winning percentage of .626 is fifth best among active coaches in the WCC and eighth best in USF history.
After being outrebounded by the Broncos, USF improves to 6-5 when having fewer rebounds than their opponent.
The Dons defense was stellar tonight, creating 17 turnovers and scoring 23 points off those turnovers.
With his 14 points tonight, senior guard Frankie Ferrari has now scored 935 career points. At his current pace he is set to score his 1,000 career point at Santa Clara on Feb. 23.

UP NEXT
San Francisco will continue its home-stand as they host Pepperdine on Thursday at 7 p.m. The game will be televised on theW.tv. For tickets visit Dons Ticket Central.