Feb. 26, 2005

Final Stats

SAN FRANCISCO. (AP) Alan Wiggins scored 10 of his career high 16 points in the second half as San Francisco defeated Santa Clara 73-70 on Saturday night.

Tyrone Riley led the Dons (15-12, 6-8 West Coast) with 23 points and John Cox added 14 to lead USF to a season sweep of the Broncos.

Kyle Bailey scored 20 of his 26 points in the second half for Santa Clara (14-15, 7-7) which lost its last two games of the season.

San Francisco will play Portland next Friday at 8 pm in the first round of the West Coast Conference Tournament at Santa Clara's Leavey Center. Santa Clara has a first round bye and will play the winner of the Portland-USF Saturday at 8 pm.

The Dons started the second half with an 8-2 run to increase their lead to 17 points. Santa Clara went on a 10-4 run and Kyle Bailey scored eight of those points in that run to cut San Francisco's lead to six points.

Bailey missed a 3-pointer but Travis Niesen made the putback and was fouled by Wiggins. Niesen made the 3-point play and San Francisco led 68-65 with 3:32 remaining.

Doron Perkins missed a pair of free throws that would have cut the deficit to one point.

San Francisco maintained a three point lead inside the final two minutes. Riley made four consecutive free throws as the Dons lead 72-67 with 1:45 to go.

Santa Clara came storming back down four points with 90 seconds remaining with consecutive baskets by Bailey and Perkins to trail by two points. Perkins attemped a 3-pointer with 10.3 seconds remaining but he missed and Johhny Dukes was fouled.

Dukes made one free throw and Santa Clara still had a chance as Niesen threw up one final 3-point attempt but it hit off the iron. At the conclusion of the game, fans stormed the court in celebration of San Francisco's win.

It was the final home game for seniors John Cox, Dommanic Ingerson, Tyrone Riley, Jason Gaines, and Andre Hazel. Cox leads the WCC in scoring and spent all four seasons at San Francisco.

Santa Clara scored the game's first four points before San Francisco went on a 9-0 run. The loudest applause was an alley-oop slam dunk from San Francisco's Alan Wiggins in the first half but he was assessed a technical foul for hanging on the rim.

San Francisco was 7-of-13 from 3-point range including 4-of-6 from Riley who scored 14 first half points as the Dons had a 42-31 lead at the break.