March 2, 2002

Box Score

Andre Laws made a 23-foot three-point shot with four seconds remaining to give San Diego a 69-67 comeback win over USF in the first round of the WCC tournament Saturday evening in San Diego. The Dons' season-ending loss ruined a career night by guard Shamell Stallworth.

USF, despite finishing tied for third in the league race was forced to play fifth-seed San Diego on the Toreros home floor. But USF fought back from a 60-52 deficit with 8:43 left to take a three-point lead with 25 ticks remaining on a three-pointer by Stallworth, that gave USF a 67-64 lead. Laws pulled the Toreros within one on a dunk with 18 seconds left, but San Diego needed to foul to get the ball back. Darrell Tucker went to the line with 15 seconds left, but missed the first shot of the one and one, giving USD a chance to win. Laws raced up the court and nailed a 22-footer to give San Diego the victory.

Laws paced San Diego, now 16-12 with 19 points, with Tom Lippold and Sam Adamo adding 13 each. Shamell Stallworth scored a career high 28 points and added 10 rebounds for USF, who completed its season 13-15. He made all eight of his field goal attempts after halftime. Darrell Tucker added 16 points, 14 in the first half.

Stallworth, who nailed 11 of 17 shots from the floor said, "I was scoring because I didn't want to lose."

"It was a hard-fought game, and it came down to our best player missing a shot and theirs making a big one," said coach Phil Mathews. "We certainly played well enough to win."

USF trailed 39-33 at the half, as the Toreros, playing in their own gym, shot 51.6% from the floor. With USF ahead 17-14, the hosts went on an 11-0 run to take a 25-17 lead, USF rallied behind 10 first half points by Shamell Stallworth and 14 by Darrell Tucker.

It was the third straight season that USF had played the host team in the West Coast Conference tournament, with the Dons falling on all three occasions. It was an unfortunate situation for USF as the home team has won handily in both contests.

USF was again forced to play without senior starting point guard LyRyan Russell, injured three weeks ago with a torn ACL. Russell, as well as all-time leading shot blocker Hondre Brewer and reserve forward Tayo Akinsete played their final games for USF. Brewer finished with a Bay Area and WCC record 279 career blocks. bbb