March 9, 2003

Box Score

Matt Dellzell scored 20 points, nailing five of five from three-point range and Jason Keep scored 19 points and pulled 15 rebounds as San Diego used its homecourt advantage to defeat USF 72-63 in the West Coast Conference postseason tournament semifinals Sunday night at San Diego's Jenny Craig Pavilion.

The Dons, who ended their season 15-14 were paced by 16 points by Shamell Stallworth and 12 by John Cox.

The Dons trailed 41-24 at the half but were able to claw their way back into the game on several occasions, getting as close as 44-40, and 59-55 with time enough to still win, but could not get any closer then that. USF was also hampered by foul trouble throughout with Darrell Tucker limited to 21 minutes, and James Bayless and Alvin Broussard fouling out. The Toreros shot 24 free-throws to 9 for USF.

"We did not play well in the first half," said Dons' head coach Phil Mathews. "In the second half we followed the game p[lan and were just a shot away a couple of times from taking the game. I'm proud of our team, it came all the way back tonight as they have all season. People counted us as down and out when we were 1-6, but we showed we could play with anyone on a given night."

It was the fourth consecutive year that USF has lost to the home team in the West Coast Tournament and the third straight in San Diego. The tournament moves to Santa Clara next season and to USF in 2005.

USF started the game cold for the second straight night, making just 6 of their first 20 shots, but unlike Saturday night, the opponents were able to build the lead to 29-13. Darrell Tucker also was whistled for three first half fouls. USF fought back to close within nine points at 33-24, but San Diego rolled off the last eight points of the half to take a 41-24 halftime lead.

USF shot just 10-32 in the first half and only made 2 of five free-throws, two of them front ends, while San Diego nailed 15-30. The Dons, the leading three-point shooters in the West Coast Conference made just two of 11 treys before intermission.

Still the loss to the second seed Toreros stings USF, who had won eight on 10 games and 14 of 21 coming into tonight's game. It also ended the of senior Darrell Tucker, who ended his career with 1,807 points, third on the USF career list and fifth all-time among Bay Area division I players. Shamell Stallworth passed former USF great James Hardy to move into 21st place on the USF career scoring list.