PULLMAN, Wash. - Making the trip to Pullman for the first time in program history, the University of San Francisco men's basketball team (13-4, 3-1 WCC) left everything on the hardwood on Saturday afternoon as the Dons were upended by Washington State (13-3, 3-0 WCC), 91-82, at Beasley Coliseum.
 
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

• Racing out to an early advantage on their home floor, Washington State scored the first eleven points of the ballgame as the Cougars held an 11-0 lead at the first media timeout at 15:54. Coming out of the timeout, Marcus Williams got the Dons on the scoreboard with a three-pointer from the top of the arc at 15:43.
• Regrouping after this initial basket, San Francisco went on to flip the script shortly thereafter as the Dons strung together a 14-3 run to even the ballgame at 14-all following an alley-oop dunk from Carlton Linguard Jr. at 12:51.
• Just a few minutes later, Malik Thomas put the green and gold on top for the first time as he finished off a three-point play at 11:48 to make it 19-16 in favor of San Francisco. Widening the gap, Thomas knocked down a pullup jumper at 10:47 to keep it a six-point game in favor of the Dons, 24-18.
• Although Wazzu would draw within one point, 24-23, three straight baskets from San Francisco made it an eight-point lead, 31-23, with 7:44 left in the first half.
• Continuing to trade points in the minutes to follow, Washington State fought back to square things up at 36-all on a three-pointer from LeJuan Watts.
• Trading the lead in the final minutes of the opening half, the Cougars held a four-point advantage following a free throw from Watts at 1:10, but a 7-2 spurt from the Dons to close out the period helped San Francisco grab a one-point lead at halftime, 49-48.
• Coming out of the locker room, a layup from Thomas and a triple from Junjie Wang kept the green and gold up two, 54-52, at 17:50. Less than two minutes later, Wang hit a second three-pointer to keep it a three-point game, 58-55.
• With just over ten minutes left in regulation, Thomas cashed in from beyond-the-arc himself to put San Francisco in front by five, 66-61. Following this three-pointer, Washington State would fire on all cylinders for the next six and a half minutes as the Cougars pieced together a 23-1 run to take back the lead and steal the momentum. At 3:36, a triple from Tyrone Riley IV helped end the USF scoring drought as the Dons trailed by 14 points, 84-70.
• Unable to dance around foul trouble for the remainder of the contest, San Francisco would not be able to trim their deficit to single digits until the final basket of the game as Washington State went on to wrap up the contest and seal the victory, 91-82.

NOTABLE PERFORMANCES:

• In arguably his most dominant performance in a half in his career, Thomas scored 27 of his 34 total points in the first half on Saturday. Overall, the guard shot 12-of-21 from the field, 3-of-7 from distance and 7-of-9 from the free throw line while also adding three rebounds, three assists, three steals and one block.
• Joining Thomas offensively, Wang (13 points), Carlton Linguard Jr. (10 points) and Robby Beasley (10 points) all finished in double figures. Notably, Wang's output marks a new career-high while Beasley's marks a new season-high.
• As a team, San Francisco led Washington State in points off turnovers (17-15), second chance points (19-10), fast break points (17-9) and bench points (14-3).

POSTGAME WITH THE DONS:

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

UP NEXT:
San Francisco will return home to the Hilltop next week as the Dons are set to host Portland next Thursday, Jan. 9 at War Memorial at the Sobrato Center. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:00 pm as Ben Ross and Ben Braun will have the call on ESPN+ while Pat Olson and Jim Brovelli will have the call on KNBR 1050. 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.
 
SPONSOR THE DONS:
The University of San Francisco Athletics Department would like to acknowledge and thank our sponsor - Planet Orange - for their continued support of San Francisco 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.