March 1, 2003

Box Score

John Cox scored 23 points, Darrell Tucker 19 and Jovan Harris added a season high 17 as the USF clinched third place in the West Coast Conference by defeating Pepperdine 90-82 Saturday night in Malibu. The Dons, who started WCC 2-3 playing without Tucker, finished strong winning six of their last eight conference games to finish 9-5, equaling their best league record since 1985. USF swept both Pepperdine and Loyola Marymount for the first time since 1997.

The Dons, once again, had an outstanding shooting game, hitting 60% of their shots in the first half, 54% for the game. Tucker nailed 7 of 11 shots from the floor, Cox 8-16 shots and Harris six of eight. Harris, the transfer from St. Mary's, entered the game with just 88 points on the season.

"We played a great team game," said Dons' head coach Phil Mathews. "We got contributions from everyone, not only Cox and Tucker, but also huge plays from Jovan (Harris) and Brandon (Queen) off the bench. We feel like the team is playing well now and ready to make a statement in the postseason tournament next weekend."

Pepperdine, who finished the season 15-12, 7-7 in league play was paced by 24 points from Terrance Johnson.

The game was a showdown for the third seed in the WCC, with the winner avoiding regular season champion Gonzaga until the final round. As the third seed USF will play the winner of Friday's game between sixth seed LMU and seventh seed Portland, both teams that USF swept this season. After Tucker returned, USF lost only twice USF ended WCC play winning five of seven road games after failing to win on the road in preconference.

USF (14-13, 9-5 WCC) led by five at the half and was never caught, taking several ten point leads and keeping the game under control and John Cox made several key baskets.

The Dons pushed their record over .500 for the first time this season, after starting the season 1-6, USF has won 13 of their last 20, including seven of its last nine.

WCC Men's Tournament

All at Jenny Craig Pavilion, San Diego

First Round Friday

#5 St. Mary's vs. #8 SCU #7 Portland vs. # 6 LMU

Second Round Saturday

SMC/SCU Winner vs. #4 Pepperdine POR/LMU Winner vs. #3 USF

Sunday

#2 San Diego vs. USF/POR/LMU winner #1 Gonzaga vs. PEP/SMC/SCU winner (ESPN)

Monday

Championship (ESPN)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WCC women

All at Jenny Craig Pavilion, San Diego

Thursday

#5 Portland vs. #8 St. Mary's #6 San Diego vs. #7 LMU

Friday

#3 Santa Clara vs. winner of USD/LMU #4 USF vs. winner of POR/SMC

Saturday

#1 Pepperdine vs. winner of USF/POR/.SMC #2 Gonzaga vs. Winner of SCU/USD/LMU

Sunday Championship