Dons Trounce Waves on Senior Night

Saturday, February 24

San Francisco, Calif.

7:00 PM

University of San Francisco

22-7,11-3WCC

Pepperdine

12-18,5-10WCC

Team	1	2	F
Pepperdine	29	39	68
San Francisco	43	49	92

Photo by: Christina Leung

2/24/2024 10:00:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. - Taking care of business in their final regular season game on the Hilltop, the University of San Francisco men's basketball team (22-7, 11-3 WCC) trounced Pepperdine (12-18, 5-10 WCC), 92-68, on Saturday night at War Memorial at the Sobrato Center.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

Starting off the night on a hot streak, San Francisco raced out to a 9-1 lead through the first six plus minutes as a Ndewedo Newbury layup at 13:57 got the Dons rolling early.
Locking down on defense in the early minutes, Junjie Wong pushed the USF advantage to fifteen points, 22-7, as the midway mark of the first half crossed on a layup of his own at the 9:25 mark.
With 8:06 left on the clock, another basket from Newbury made it a sixteen-point game in favor of San Francisco, 26-10. Just a few minutes later, Marcus Williams nailed a three-pointer at 5:12 to keep San Francisco in front, 34-18.
Pushing the pace throughout the first twenty minutes, a layup from Williams around the 45 second mark gave USF their largest lead of the half at seventeen points, 43-26. At the break, the green and gold remained on top, 43-29.
Joining the barrage, Malik Thomas knocked down a triple of his own a few minutes into the second half to widen USF's gap to nineteen, 52-33.
Making a run shortly thereafter, Pepperdine came within thirteen, 57-44, after five straight points from Houston Mallette and a made three from Michael Ajayi near the fourteen minute mark.
Electrifying the crowd with just under ten minutes left in regulation, Robby Beasley cashed in on a trey at 9:48 before Jonathan Mogbo threw down a dunk at 7:56 to put the Dons up by 22 points, 75-53.
Keeping their foot on the gas pedal down the stretch, San Francisco made it a 25-point game, 88-63, on a jumper from Ryan Beasley at the 3:00 mark before a layup from Volodymyr Markovetskyy gave the green and gold a 27-point advantage, 90-63.
Closing the contest without much resistance, the Dons cruised to their 22^nd overall victory of the season by taking down Pepperdine by a final score of 92-68.

NOTABLE PERFORMANCES:

Impressing for the second straight game, Newbury was tabbed Player of the Game after finishing with 19 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 block and 1 steal on 9-of-12 shooting.
Alongside Newbury, Williams flirted with a double-double as he posted 12 points and 8 assists to go along with 4 rebounds and 1 steal on 5-of-11 from the field.
Adding to the onslaught, Mogbo (14 points), Mike Sharavjamts (12 points), Thomas (11 points) and Ryan Beasley (10 points) also finished in double figures.
As a team, San Francisco led Pepperdine in points in the paint (48-20), points off turnovers (15-6), second chance points (15-8), fast break points (9-3) and bench points (52-11).
With the victory over the Waves, the Dons have now tallied 11 wins in conference play for the first time since 2013-14, when USF would go on to finish 13-5 in WCC action to tie BYU for second place in the final regular season standings.

POSTGAME WITH THE DONS:

To view the full highlights of tonight's contest, please click here.
To view the full postgame interview with head coach Chris Gerlufsen and Ndewedo Newbury, please click here.

FOLLOW US:
For updates and more information on the San Francisco men's basketball program, follow the Dons @USFDonsMBB on Twitter, @USFDonsMBB on Instagram and @USFDonsMBB on Facebook.

MERCHANDISE:
Want to dress like the Dons? Get your official San Francisco Dons gear from the University of San Francisco bookstore today! Click here to purchase.

SPONSOR THE DONS:
The University of San Francisco Athletics Department would like to acknowledge and thank our sponsor - ABM - 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.