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:
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.
