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Dons Rally For 85-75 Win At San Diego
Feb. 21, 2004
The USF Dons paced by 16 points by Tyrone Riley and 13 points by James Bayless rallied from an eight point second half deficit to defeat the University of San Diego 85-75 Saturday night at Jenny Craig Pavilion in San Diego.
It was the first win for USF (16-12, 6-6 WCC) against the Toreros (4-23, 1-11 WCC) in the Jenny Craig Pavilion in five tries and it was not easy. The Toreros, paced by a career high of 29 points by Brandon Gay led for much of the night. Gay was 11 for 16 from the floor.
The score was tied at 64-all when USF starting guard Andre Hazel went down after turning his ankle, but Jason Gaines turned out to be the Dons hero of the night. He made a three-point play to put USF up 71-67 and later drew a charge that forced San Diego's Gay to foul out. He scored the next basket to give USF a 73-67 cushion and nailed four free-throws to ice the game. He finished with nine points, all in the last six minutes.
USF scored 48 second half points and finished with 85. This season, USF has a perfect 13-0 mark when scoring 70 points or more.
The Dons dominated at the free-throw line, hitting 22-24 to San Diego's 16-31.
The Dons had to fight off an inspired Torero team on their senior night
The Dons trailed at halftime 42-37 despite holding an early 25-16 nine point lead. The Dons allowed the Toreros to shoot 53.6 % from the floor in the first half, paced by 19 first half points by Brandon Gay, who hit 7 of 10 first half shots.
USF returns home to close out the regular season against Pepperdine Thursday and Loyola Marymount Saturday night. It will be the final home game Saturday for five USF seniors.
