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Dons Win Streak Snapped at Saint Mary's 92-83; Host Gonzaga Saturday at 12:30`
Feb. 19, 2007
The USF men's basketball team, who had won five of their last six games, dropped a 92-83 decision at Saint Mary's in Moraga in their final road conference contest Monday night.
The Dons (12-16, 7-5 WCC) were paced by a career high 35 points by Manny Quezada, the second highest total by a Don this season and also got double figure point games by Alan Wiggins who scored 15 and Antonio Kellogg who added 12. Wiggins and Kellogg both fouled out in the contest.
Saint Mary's senior Brett Collins, playing his final home games scored 26 points, making 10 of 13 shots to pace the Gaels, who also got 15 points by Todd Golden and Omar Samhan. The Gaels shot 54.5% from the floor, while shooting 46% on the night.
"We just didn't get the job done tonight," said Dons' head coach Jessie Evans. "We did not get them stopped on defense and we became impatient on offense. We really missed Armondo on offense and we had trouble running what we wanted. Hopefully, he will be back for the Gonzaga game Saturday at 12:30."
Saint Mary's (14-14, 6-6), who snapped a four game losing streak and broke a three game USF win streak, still trail the Dons by a game in the league standings.
The Dons, however, clinched an upper half WCC seed earlier in the evening when Gonzaga defeated Portland, meaning that the Dons get a bye into the quarterfinal round. USF will now open play at the league tournament on March 3rd.
USF finishes their league season at home with a 12:30 contest Saturday against Gonzaga followed by the senior night tilt against Portland on February 26th. USF finished 4-3 on the road in league play.
The Dons started strong, making 5 of their first six shots and led 11-4 just three minutes into the contest. But USF went cold and allowed the Gaels to jump ahead 17-15 after a 13-4 run. St. Mary's built the lead to as much as 39-30 before Manny Quesada's three put USF down 39-33 at the half. The Dons, already sitting injured Armondo Surratt and Vince Polakovic, were forced to play without Antonio Kellogg and Alan Wiggins for much of the first period due to foul trouble.
