SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. – Cruising to another dominant victory at home, the University of San Francisco men's basketball team (11-4) closed out their non-conference schedule with a 32-point win over Hartford (4-11) on Thursday night as the Dons handled the Hawks, 85-53, at War Memorial at the Sobrato Center.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:
- Similar to the Arizona State game on Wednesday night, the Dons came racing out of the gates offensively as USF took a commanding 14-0 lead less than four minutes into play following back-to-back three-pointers from Isaiah Hawthorne.
- As the half progressed, the green and gold did not let up as a jumper in the paint from Volodymyr Markovetskyy at 11:01 pushed USF's advantage to eighteen, 27-9.
- Picking each other up on both ends of the floor, the Dons would maintain their intensity throughout the first twenty minutes as they led 40-22 going into the halftime break. Notably, the 22 points allowed by USF in the first half marked the lowest point total by an opponent in a first half this season.
- Coming out of the locker room, free throws from Khalil Shabazz and a triple from Josh Kunen pushed the score to 50-27 in favor of the green and gold at the 16:49 mark in the second half.
- Firing on all cylinders, the Dons led by as many as 20 for all but one minute down the stretch, which included USF extending their advantage to 31, 81-50, on a powerful dunk from Saba Gigiberia with time winding down.
- Leaving no doubt, two free throws from Justin Bieker with five seconds left in regulation sealed the 32-point win for USF as four Dons finished in double figures in the 85-53 victory.
NOTABLE PERFORMANCES:
- Posting another career-high for the second straight night, Hawthorne was selected as Player of the Game after finishing with a game-high 20 points and eight rebounds in 29 minutes played. Impressively, the Tracy native shot 6-of-9 from the floor overall, including 5-of-6 from distance and a perfect 3-of-3 from the charity stripe.
- Adding to the offensive firepower, Gigiberia tallied a new career-high with 16 points as he also pulled down seven rebounds while shooting 6-of-8 from the floor and knocking down two three-pointers. Showing his versatility, the big man also added two assists and one block while sinking both of his free throws in just 15 minutes played.
- Additionally, Markovetskyy (11 points) and Tyrell Roberts 910 points) each finished in double figures for the Dons.
- As a team, USF shot 49.1 percent from the field (28-57) and 40.0 percent from deep (12-30) while leading the Hawks in points in the paint (28-16), points off turnovers (15-4), second chance points (7-3), fast break points (9-2) and bench points (23-15).
POSTGAME WITH THE DONS:
UP NEXT:
USF will take the next week off for the holiday break as the Dons will return to the court to open West Coast Conference play next Thursday, Dec. 29 with a 7:00 pm road matchup at Santa Clara. Live streaming, radio and live statistics links are available via the
team's schedule page.
FOLLOW US:
For updates and more information on the USF men's basketball program, follow the Dons
@USFDonsMBB on Twitter,
@USFDonsMBB on Instagram and
@USFDonsMBB on Facebook.
MERCHANDISE:
Want to dress like the Dons? Rep USF today by visiting the all-new USF Dons online store at
www.usfdons.com/shop.
SPONSOR THE DONS:
The University of San Francisco Athletics Department would like to acknowledge and thank our primary sponsor - Provident Credit Union - for their continued support of USF Athletics. Interested in sponsoring the Dons? Please contact
Frank Allocco, the Executive Senior Associate Athletics Director of External Relations, at fallocco@usfca.edu or at (415) 422-4561.
