Box Score
SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- It was fitting the two oldest rivals in the West Coast Conference opened the 61st season of WCC play in the same fashion that has charactized many of the previous 210 games between the two schools.
Santa Clara withstood a furious second half comeback by USF which saw the Dons nearly erase a 18-point deficit to survive, 74-69 at the Leavey Center.
Cole Dickerson led the Dons in scoring with 17 points and grabbed 12 rebounds for his eighth double-double of the season.
Cody Doolin finished with 16 while freshman Avry Holmes came off the bench to add 12.
Santa Clara's Kevin Foster led all scorers with 21 points while Marc Trasolini chipped in 14 for the Broncos who saw their record improve to 12-3. USF falls to 7-7 with a home date looming Saturday against BYU.
Santa Clara was nursing a 24-23 lead with 5:50 left in the first half before going on a 15-5 run to take a 39-28 lead at intermission.
Three-pointers by Raymond Crowels III, Evan Roquemore and Foster to start the second half gave Santa Clara a 48-29 lead at the 18:34 mark.
The Broncos lead was 18 at 57-39 with 13:32 left when USF went on a 16-4 run to cut the lead to 61-55 with 5:28 left. Three-pointers by Holmes and
Chris Adams help fuel the run.
The Dons cut the lead to 67-65 when Tim Derksen hit a three-pointer from the right corner with 1:26 left.
After the two teams traded baskets, Santa Clara's lead was just two points at 69-67 with :31 remaining.
Free throws by Roquemore and Foster gave the Broncos a 72-67 lead with :20 left. Doolin's layup pulled USF to within three at 72-69 with :05 left but Trasolini closed out the game with a pair of free throws to give the Broncos a 74-69 decision.
In addition to Holmes' 12 points, the Dons also received solid bench production from Adams, who nailed a pair of three's and finished with six points.
Mark Tollefsen finished with five in 31 minutes of action.
The Dons committed 12 turnovers, including nine in a ragged first half. USF shot a respectable 47.3 percent from the field while the Broncos shot just 39.1 percent. The Broncos had it better on the boards, outrebounding the Dons, 42-33.
"We gave a good effort, but I'm not into moral victories," said USF head coach
Rex Walters. "As a fan, it was a great game to watch. We were good in stretches but gave up too many offensive rebounds. We just came up short.
"We work hard but there has to be an attention to detail when you don't have a Bill Walton or Bill Russell," said USF head coach
Rex Walters. "It has to be five guys on the same page at all times for us to be successful. We were really locked in for about 25 minutes tonight and understood what we wanted to get accomplished."
USF will return to action Saturday when the Dons play host to Brigham Young. Tip off is set for 7:00 p.m. in Memorial Gym.
