MALIBU, Calif. - Heading south for a quick one game road trip, the University of San Francisco men's basketball team (19-6, 8-2 WCC) continued to roll in conference play on Saturday night as the Dons hung on to take down Pepperdine (9-16, 2-8 WCC), 80-74, at Firestone Fieldhouse.
 
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

• Backing down his defender on the opening possession of the ballgame, reigning WCC Player of the Week Jonathan Mogbo got the scoring started with a left-handed layup just 25 seconds into play.
• Responding with four points of their own, Pepperdine trimmed their deficit early, but a pair of free throws from Mike Sharavjamts at 16:08 gave San Francisco an 8-4 advantage upon the first media timeout.
• As the 15-minute mark crossed, Michael Ajayi, the WCC's leading scorer entering the contest, netted his first four points of the evening in addition to a jumper from Malik Moore as the Waves took their first lead of the night, 10-8, at 14:35.
• Extending the gap to 15-8 following a triple from Jevon Porter, Pepperdine held a seven-point lead at 12:31. Nearing the midway mark of the first half, the Waves remained in front, but Ndewedo Newbury would cash in on a wide-open triple on the wing at 11:06 to bring USF back within four, 18-14.
• Clawing back with each basket, Marcus Williams drove the ball up court before sinking a pull up jumper at 7:58 to bring the green and gold within two, 20-18. Over the next two plus minutes, San Francisco fought to grab the lead back, 26-24, on a three-pointer from Isaiah Hawthorne at 5:21.
• With 4:15 remaining in the first half, the score was knotted at 28, but a dunk by Mogbo followed by Hawthorne's second triple of the night gave USF the lead back by five points, 33-28. Locked in a battle until the break, Pepperdine answered by making the final two buckets of the first half as the Dons maintained a two-point advantage, 35-33, heading into the locker room.
• Kickstarting the second half of action, Houston Mallette evened things at 35 on a layup nine seconds into play. On the next sequence, Sharvajamts delivered a beauty of a lob pass from beyond-the-arc to find Mogbo for a two-handed alley-oop that put San Francisco back in front, 37-35, at 19:35.
• Using their home court to their advantage, Pepperdine reeled off a 5-0 run over the next 2:01 to retake the lead, 42-37. After growing the gap to as many as seven points, the Waves let up a bit defensively as USF battled back with an 80-0 run of their own to take control, 48-46, following a dunk from Newbury at 12:38.
• With just over ten minutes remaining in regulation, a fastbreak jumper from Williams kept the green and gold on top, 54-51. Doing his part off the bench, Robby Beasley nailed his first three-pointer of the season at 8:12 to put the Dons up by eight, 62-54.
• Down the stretch, neither side would find much separation past this point as a layup from Robby Beasley with 4:10 left kept USF in charge, 72-63.
• Not going down without a fight, Pepperdine cut their deficit to four, 72-68, with 1:46 before a layup from Mallette around 38 seconds trimmed it to a three-point game, 75-72.
• Closing out the contest at the charity stripe, San Francisco held off a late rally from the Waves as the Dons went on to secure their fourth straight win by a final score of 80-74.

NOTABLE PERFORMANCES:

• Having his way down low once again, Mogbo was tabbed Player of the Game after finishing with a team-high 19 points on 8-of-13 shooting to go along with 8 rebounds, 2 steals, 1 assist and 1 block in 33 minutes played.
• Alongside Mogbo, Williams (14 points), Newbury (13 points) and Hawthorne (12 points) all logged double figures for the Dons.
• Providing energy off the bench in a season-high 14 minutes of action, Robby Beasley finished with 9 points on 3-of-4 from the field, which also both mark season-highs. Notably, the UC Davis transfer sank both of his free throws while pulling down one rebound for the green and gold.
• As a team, San Francisco led Pepperdine in points in the paint (44-26), second chance points (10-8), fast break points (16-9) and bench points (25-10). Additionally, the Dons shot 50.9 percent as a team on the night, marking the 14^th time in which USF has achieved this feat this season.

POSTGAME WITH THE DONS:

• To view the full postgame interview with head coach Chris Gerlufsen, please click here.
• To view the full postgame interview with Robby Beasley, please click here. 

UP NEXT:
San Francisco will return home to the Hilltop this weekend as the Dons will host Bay Area rival Santa Clara this Saturday, Feb. 10. Tipoff from War Memorial at the Sobrato Center is scheduled for 7:00 pm as the contest will air live on ESPN+ and KNBR 1050 at game time. Live streaming, radio, live statistics and ticket links are available via the team's schedule page.
 
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.
 
FOLLOW US:
The University of San Francisco Athletics Department would like to acknowledge and thank our sponsor - Twenty Five Ventures - 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.