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San Francisco Rolls Past Dominican 92-66 Monday Night
Nov. 16, 2009
By Stacy Hicklin
USF Beat Writer
SAN FRANCISCO - Dominican University struck first, but the University of San Francisco men's basketball team fought back to come away with a lopsided 92-66 win on Monday night at War Memorial Gymnasium.
The Penguins (0-1) jumped out to a 13-3 lead, holding USF (2-0) to single-digit scoring until seven minutes into the game.
"They were really sprinting the floor and pitching ahead, which really got us on our heels as opposed to us being ready from the get-go," USF head coach Rex Walters said. "Ball screen action really affected us, but then our guys made the adjustment."
Mid-way through the half, the Dons began chipping away at the lead behind the inside presence of Dior Lowhorn and Moustapha Diarra. The Dons finally pulled ahead with six and half minutes to go in the first half and never trailed again.
USF blew the game open with a 16-3 run mid-way through the second half. The Penguins connected from behind the 3-point line five times in the first half, but the Dons held them to 0-for-8 shooting from long range in the second half.
The Dons' bench outscored Dominican's 23-8. Freshman Michael Willams came off the bench to play 29 minutes, scoring eight points with five assists. Peter Smith turned in a solid 18 minutes, totaling seven points, three assists and two steals.
"Peter and Mikey picked up the energry level, which we've been lacking from the bench," Walters said. "They raised our level of play when they stepped on the court." Kwame Vaughn and Lowhorn scored 24 and 22 points, respectively, to lead the Dons. The 22 points matched Vaughn's career-high.
Lowhorn passed USF Hall-of-Famer Dennis Black to move up to No. 16 on the school's all-time scoring list. The senior has amazed 1,284 career points.
"It feels really good [to keep moving up the list] because of who some of the guys I'm passing up," Lowhorn said. "That makes it a big honor."
USF travels to Arizona State for a 3:30 PM (PT) tip-off on Friday, November 20.
