Broncos Use Second Half Surge to Defeat Dons on Saturday

Saturday, January 11

Santa Clara, Calif.

4:00 PM

University of San Francisco

14-5,4-2WCC

Santa Clara

12-6,4-1WCC

Team	1	2	F
San Francisco	28	26	54
Santa Clara	21	56	77

Marcus Williams Dunk at Santa Clara Jan. 2025

Photo by: USF Athletics

1/11/2025 6:00:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: Josh Bascos

SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Closing out the season series, the University of San Francisco men's basketball team (14-5, 4-2 WCC) was unable to capture the sweep over Santa Clara (12-6, 4-1 WCC) on Saturday as the Broncos overpowered the Dons in the second half to secure a 77-54 victory at Leavey Center.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

Attacking out of the gates, San Francisco took an early 7-4 lead at 16:12 courtesy of two three-pointers from Malik Thomas.
Santa Clara was quick to fight back as downtown hits by Jake Ensminger and Johnny O'Neil helped give the Broncos a 15-12 advantage at 10:29. However, USF responded right back with an 8-0 run of its own, which included layups from Thomas and Carlton Linguard Jr. and a dunk from Tyrone Riley IV, to put the green and gold back in front, 20-15, with seven minutes to play in the first half.
Back-to-back SCU buckets whittled the San Francisco lead to one, 22-21 with 3:23 remaining, but Marcus Williams strung together a personal 6-0 run to end the half, capped off by a steal and a two-hand slam, to give the Dons a 28-21 lead at the break.
Opening the second half with another dunk, Thomas found Linguard Jr. for a jam to get the period going, but a 10-2 Santa Clara run, including eight points from Carlos Stewart Jr., narrowed the gap to just one point, 32-31 at 16:57.
Shortly thereafter, a Linguard Jr. three snuffed SCU's run, but the Broncos kept their foot on the gas by stringing together a 12-0 spurt, including nine points from Elijah Mahi, to flip the game in their favor and take a 48-39 lead with 9:51 to play.
Unable to overcome the avalanche from the Broncos down the stretch, Santa Clara kept its foot on the gas until the final buzzer as the Dons fell to SCU by a final score of 77-54 at Leavey Center on Saturday.

NOTABLE PERFORMANCES:

Not going down without a fight, Thomas led the green and gold offensively with 19 points as the guard shot 4-for-9 from distance to go along with three rebounds, one assist and one steal in 32 minutes.
Giving it his all in the backcourt, Williams dished out six assists in addition to six points, two rebounds and one steal in 33 minutes of play.
Returning from a four-game absence due to injury, Ryan Beasley scored eight points on 4-of-7 shooting in 21 minutes off the bench.

POSTGAME WITH THE DONS:

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

UP NEXT:
San Francisco is scheduled to head south to Malibu next as the Dons will travel to Pepperdine for a matchup on Thursday, Jan. 16. Tipoff from Firestone Fieldhouse is set for 7:00 pm PT as Pat Olson will have the call live on KNBR 1050. Live streaming, radio and live statistics 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.

SPONSOR US:
The University of San Francisco Athletics Department would like to acknowledge and thank our sponsor - Planet Orange - 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.