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Santa Clara Upsets USF on Senior Night 83-78
Feb. 20, 2006
Travis Niesen scored 31 points and collected nine rebounds for Santa Clara which posted its third road win, defeating San Francisco, 83-78 on Monday night despite a career high 23 points by freshman Drew Shiller.
Domineek Daniel added a career-high 17 points for the Broncos (10-15, 3-9 WCC) who ended a three-game losing skid.
Santa Clara allowed San Francisco to tie the game on three different occasions but the Broncos never trailed in the game. A basket from Domineek Daniel from beyond the arc, a layup by Niesen, and four free throws from Mitch Henke put the Broncos up by nine points with just over a minute remaining.
Three's from Vince Polakovic and Danny Cavic cut San Francisco's deficit to three. Daniel was fouled and made one free throw for the Broncos. A three point play by Surratt made it a 77-76 Santa Clara lead with 31 seconds to go in regulation.
Santa Clara made its free throws in the closing moments and outscored San Francisco 6-2 for the final margin of victory.
Freshman Drew Shiller scored a career high 23 points for the Dons. San Francisco (10-15, 6-6) has not won or lost more than two consecutive games all season.
It was Senior night at War Memorial Gym and the final home game for Jerome Gumbs, Dommanic Ingerson, and Jason Wallace-Carter.
The Broncos dominated in the first half outscoring the Dons, 30-11 shooting 55 percent and 4-of-6 from 3-point range.
¶ The Dons used a 12-2 run to trail by eight points but Santa Clara was ahead, 40-31 at the break.
Santa Clara widened the margin using a 10-3 spurt to lead, 56-44 midway through the second half.
The Dons responded by holding the Broncos scoreless for over three minutes going on a 12-0 run with six points scored by Wallace-Carter including the game-tying dunk with 7:24 remaining.
Santa Clara went ahead briefly but a jumper by Alan Wiggins, Jr. retied the contest, 67-67 with 3:55 to play.
¶ Santa Clara scored the first nine points of the game. San Francisco was scoreless for nearly three minutes missing its first five shots from the field. With 7:54 remaining in the first half, the Dons made just 15 percent (3-of-20) of their baskets.
USF remains tied for third place in the WCC with San Diego, who lost at home to St. Mary's. The Gaels join the tie at 6-6 with two games remaining.
USF closes the regular season at Portland next Saturday and at Gonzaga next Monday.
