 |  |
San Francisco Falls at League-Leading Saint Mary's 73-57
Feb. 6, 2010
By Stacy Hicklin
USF Beat WriterBR>
MORAGA -- The University of San Francisco men's basketball team clawed its way back to within shooting distance late in the game, but Saint Mary's proved to be too much down the stretch.
The Gaels powered on for a 73-57 win against the Dons on Saturday night at McKeon Pavilion in front of a sold-out crowd.
USF (9-15, 4-5) trailed 41-26 at halftime after committing 11 turnovers. The Gaels (21-3, 8-1) shot 51.5 percent in the first half compared to the Dons' 33.3 percent.
"We came out a little on our heels," USF coach Rex Walters said. "And we had a lot of quick shots from our guys trying to be the hero not the good teammate."
Saint Mary's led by as many as 17 points early in the second half before the Dons cut the lead to nine points with seven minutes and 48 seconds to go. The Gaels quickly answered with a 3-pointer and a 3-point play and never looked back.
USF held Saint Mary's to just 10-of-30 from the field in the second half.
"We did good things in traps and our ball screen defense was better in the second half...we started to make them work hard," Walters said. "We just weren't able to raise our level."
Dior Lowhorn scored a game-high 25 points with eight rebounds. The senior forward moved into seventh place on USF's all-time scoring list with his first shot - passing Naismith Hall-of-Famer Bill Russell with a 3-pointer 69 seconds into the game. Lowhorn finished the game with 1, 659 points and turned in his 49th game with 20 or more points in the Green and Gold.
No other Don finished in double digits in scoring with Michael Williams and Angelo Caloiaro each totaling eight points.
Omar Samhan finished with 24 points, 10 rebounds and seven blocks to lead the Gaels
The Gaels scored 16 points off turnovers and collected 13 second-chance points.
"We struggled and Saint Mary's is more together than we are and it showed," Walters said. "Guys [for SMC] have no agenda other for anything other than St. Mary's basketball."
USF is home next weekend, hosting Pepperdine on Thursday, Feb. 11 and Loyola Marymount on Saturday, Feb. 13. It is the final homestand of the 2009-10 season for the Dons and both games will tip-off at 7:00 PM at War Memorial Gym.
