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USF Men's Basketball Hangs On For 71-68 Overtime Thriller at Santa Clara
Feb. 21, 2010
By Stacy Hicklin
USF Beat Writer
SANTA CLARA -- The University of San Francisco men's basketball team watched a big second-half lead evaporate, but came through with enough to win down the stretch.
USF outlasted Santa Clara 71-68 in overtime on Saturday night in front of a spirited crowd.
The Dons (12-15, 7-5) never trailed in overtime.
Santa Clara (11-18, 3-9) got the ball back with 11.2 seconds to go in overtime, trailing 69-68. Freshman guard Robert Smith drove the lane, but found himself with nowhere to go and threw up an air ball.
Nearly every player on the court tipped the rebound, but Dior Lowhorn came down with the ball. He was fouled and went on to hit two free throws with 0.7 seconds to go. The Broncos got off a long 3-pointer at the buzzer, but it fell short.
"With LMU beating Gonzaga [on Thursday], we knew we had to get this win [to keep the fourth seed]," USF sophomore Kwame Vaughn said. "We were just hungry tonight and wanted to win more."
Loyola Marymount knocked off Gonzaga on Thursday and held off Portland in overtime on Saturday night to improve to 6-6 in the West Coast Conference; good enough for fifth place. The Lions have to win at both San Diego and Saint Mary's next weekend and the Dons have to lose at Gonzaga and Portland, for LMU to overtake USF for that fourth seed.
Both teams were sloppy in the first half; combining for 18 first-half turnovers. After eight lead changes, the Dons took a 32-29 lead into the break.
Early in the second half, sophomore forward Angelo Caloiaro took control of the game for USF. Caloiaro drained three shots from behind the 3-point line within 86 seconds to give the Dons a 46-35 lead with 15:47 to play. He finished with 20 points, going 7-for-11 from the field.
The Dons set a new season high in 3-pointers made in a game, finishing 12-for-19 from behind the arc. Santa Clara shot just 4-for-22 from the 3-point line.
"We didn't do a good enough job on the defensive end by limiting their threes and closing out we were not good enough," Santa Clara coach Kerry Keating said. "It kind of put us in a bad way early on."
The Dons pushed the lead to 57-41 with 8:32 remaining and looked to have the game firmly in their grasp. Santa Clara, however, responded with an 18-2 run to tie the game at 59-59. During that run, USF went without a field goal for nearly six minutes.
"We turned the ball over," USF coach Rex Walters said. "We were being aggressive, but we weren't being smart."
Santa Clara turned the ball over just three times in the second half.
Lowhorn scored a game-high 28 points with six rebounds. Dontae Bryant totaled seven assists and five rebounds with Rashad Green adding six assists.
Four Broncos finished in double-digit scoring, led by Marc Trasolini's 17 points.
The Dons have won five of their last six games with three of those wins coming in overtime.
USF travels to Gonzaga and Portland next weekend for their final two regular-season games.
NOTES: USF improves to 5-1 in overtime contests under head coach Rex Walters with the only setback coming in double overtime at Colorado State (11/29/09)... with his final assist in overtime, Dontae Bryant recorded his 100th of the season... The 20-plus point night for Dior Lowhorn was the 51st of his career and fifth in his last six ballgames... it was the 205th career meeting in the all-time series dating to 1908... USF has won two of the last three against Santa Clara - both overtime triumphs... The Dons improve to 4-1 during West Coast Conference play in games decided by four points or less... San Francisco converted on and attempted more 3-pointers (12-19) than free throws (9-13).
