March 8, 2003

Box Score

Darrell Tucker scored 26 points and pulled 11 rebounds to pace USF to a 70-56 victory over Loyola Marymount in the West Coast Conference postseason tournament quarterfinals at San Diego's Jenny Craig Pavilion Saturday night.

Shamell Stallworth added 11 points and John Cox added 10 points and Jovan Harris a valuable 10 points off the bench as the Dons won their eighth in their last 10 games and 14th of their last 21.

Ahead 36-34 at the half, USF scored the first 10 points of the second period, six points by Tucker and four by Stallworth to take a 12 point lead. The Dons held LMU without a field goal for the first 6:30 of the second half, and by then the Dons lead was secure. USF built an 18 point lead (62-44) with 5:29 remaining and coasted home. On the defensive end, USF held the Lions to six second half field goals and 29% shooting.

The Lions were led by 14 points by Keith Kincade and dropped to 11-20 on the year. They advanced to tonight's game by beating Portland Friday.

Despite missing their first nine shots and making just 2 of their first 13, the Dons, the team leading the WCC in field goal percentage, still shot 50.9% from the floor during the game.

The Dons held a 36-34 halftime lead despite starting the game ice-cold. USF missed its first nine field goal attempts and made just three of their first 17 attempts from the floor. The Dons came back behind the play of reserve guard Jovan Harris, who scored 10 points making all five of his field goal attempts. USF made 11 of its last 14 field goal attempts to end the half.

USF forward Darrell Tucker surpassed former Cal star Sean Lampley to move into fifth place on the all-time Bay Area Division I scoring list. Tucker trails only Todd Lichti and Adam Keefe of Stanford and USF's Bill Cartwright and Quintin Dailey in Bay Area history.

USF will face tournament host San Diego in the semifinals Sunday at 6:30 p.m. The Toreros, who received two byes into the semifinals by virtue of finishing second swept the Dons this year. The Toreros also knocked USF out of the WCC tournament the past two seasons on their home court.