SAN FRANCISCO – The University of San Francisco men's basketball team found itself trailing at home by 10 late the first half thanks to gritty play by visiting San Diego. However, USF was able to erase that lead thanks to the strong play by senior guard Jamaree Bouyea who took over in the second half, leading the Dons to a 70-62 win on Thursday afternoon. 
 
In the opening half, USF (7-4, 1-0 WCC) looked more like the team that had played just four games.  The Dons went cold midway through the first half and the Toreros capitalized going on a 15-2 run taking a 27-17 lead with 4:20 to play in the period.  
 
 "Things always tend to tighten up when you get into league play and I think you saw that early on," said head coach Todd Golden. "San Diego was really well prepared, I thought they competed really hard and made it difficult on us in the first half and we just couldn't get comfortable. But in the last four minutes if the first half and especially out of the break I thought we did a much better job of doing the things that we can control, such as taking care of the ball, getting on the glass, and doing a better job defensively." 
 
The Dons came to life thanks to a tough bucket by Jamaree Bouyea that ended a lengthy USF scoring drought. Then on back-to-back possessions Taavi Jurkatamm and Dzmitry Ryuny hit triples giving the Dons a boost.  USF went on a 12-1 run of their own and briefly took the lead back with under a minute to play.  
 
A 3-point field goal by USD's Joey Calcaterra had USD back out front 31-30 when the half ended. The Toreros (1-4, 0-1 WCC) shot well in the first half, connecting on 44.8 percent of their attempts from the field, going 13-for-29.  Overall, USD finished 24-for-53 (45.3 percent) from the field, but were just 5-for-18 from distance. 
 
USD had three players in double figures and were led by Josh Parrish's 15.  Yauhen Massalaski had 12, and Calcaterra had 14.  Seventeen of Massalaski and Calcaterra's combined 24 points came in the first half. 
 
In the second half, the Dons played much better basketball overall. A big part of that was the play by Bouyea.  He led all scorers with a game-high 24 points, 18 coming in the second half.  Bouyea also had seven rebounds and five assists.  The 24 points matches his career-high coming in the loss at Cal on December 13. 
 
"He's a fantastic player. I think he's one of the better guards in the country," said Golden on his senior guard.  "We need him to play well for us to be a good team and he has continued to deliver.  We probably put a little too much on him, but he doesn't back down. I thought in the second half he was a little more aggressive. He picked his spots and did a really good job of carrying us to get us out to that nice lead." 
 
The Dons did not have any other players in double figures but got several standout performances.  Jonas Visser finished with eight points and four rebounds in 20 minutes of action.  Josh Kunen was exceptional as well, finishing with nine points along with eight rebounds.  Dzmitry Ryuny finished with eight points and eight rebounds, and Jurkatamm had eight points and five rebounds along with three assists.
 
"Jonas was huge for us today," said Golden.  "He did an awesome job of coming in and defending the post which is where we were having some trouble earlier in the game.  Offensively he was really solid, he made two really nice moves down there and hit two big free throws when we needed it. I thought Josh Kunen did a really nice job as well.  He did a really good job defensively and when USD went into a zone I thought he attacked it well in the middle of the floor to keep pressure on them." 
 
For only the second time this year and fourth time in the Golden era the Dons came away with the win after trailing at the half.  USF improves to 27-3 under Golden when leading with five minutes to play. For fifth time this season, USF finished with more rebounds than their opponent, 38-33.  The Dons are now 3-2 in those games. 
 
Next up for USF, a trip to Spokane, Wash., where they will take on No. 1 Gonzaga on ESPN2.  That game is slated to tip off at 7:00 p.m. Jon Sciambi and Fran Fraschilla will have the call on the television side.  Pat Olson will have the call on the official home of the Dons, KNBR 1050-AM.