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USF Rolls Past Lions 75-66 in 2010 Regular Season Home Finale
Feb. 13, 2010
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By Stacy Hicklin
USF Beat Writer
SAN FRANCISCO -- The University of San Francisco men's basketball team relied on key performances from its seniors to win its fourth game in five contests.
USF held off Loyola Marymount 75-66 on Saturday night at War Memorial Gym in the Dons' final home contest of the season.
The win gives USF (11-15, 6-5) a two and a half game lead over Loyola Marymount (13-13, 4-6) for fourth place in the West Coast Conference.
"I'm happy for our seniors, I thought all three were really good tonight," USF coach Rex Walters said. "Blake [Wallace] played the way I knew he could play when he's not hurt, Dontae [Bryant] led us and Dior [Lowhorn] carried us offensively."
USF honored its three seniors in a special ceremony before the game.
The two teams took turns with the lead in the first half, but the Dons went into halftime with a 34-29 lead. Less than a minute into the second half, USF pushed the lead to double digits on a 3-pointer from Wallace.
Loyola Marymount, however, went on a 13-3 run to tie the game at 46-46 with 10:46 to go in the game.
After trading baskets again, Lowhorn took over with just under eight minutes remaining. The senior standout scored 10 straight points to boost the Dons to a 63-52 lead with 4:55 to go. Lowhorn finished his night with 1,703 career points and passed former USF All-American Winford Boynes (1975-78/1,702) for fourth place on the career scoring list
"He made a big impact [at that point in the game]," Walters said. "We knew we could go to him and he'd get it done."
Loyola Marymount never got closer than eight points for the remainder of the contest.
USF's three seniors accounted for more than half of the team's points.
Wallace had a season-high nine points on 3-for-4 shooting from behind the arc and Bryant totaled seven points, four rebounds, four assists and a steal. Lowhorn led the team with 26 points, going 15-for-16 from the free throw line, with seven rebounds and two steals.
Angelo Caloiaro added 11 points, while Rashad Green turned in a stellar game with crucial baskets (for nine points), four assists and six rebounds.
Loyola Marymount guard Vernon Teel scored a game-high 28 points with eight rebounds, five assists and four steals. The junior shot 10-for-13 from the field and went 8-for-10 from the line.
Teel played 38 minutes with Jarred DuBois and Drew Viney each playing 39 minutes.
USF travels to Santa Clara next for a 7 p.m. tip-off on Saturday, Feb. 20. The Dons and Broncos will be carried live on Green 960 and will be televised on Comcast SportsNet California from the Leavey Event Center.
NOTES: USF improves to 102-35 all-time against Loyola Marymount, 48-15 at home... The Dons post a 9-4 (.692) record at War Memorial Gym - the best mark since recording 12-4 (.750) slates in 2004-06... Darrell Tucker (1999-03) sits in third place on the Dons career scoring list with 1,805... Lowhorn shot 15-16 (.938) from the free throw line.
