Box Score
SAN FRANCISCO -- Senior guard Cody Doolin scored a career-high 33 points but USF came out on the shortend of a 92-90 decision against Nevada in high-tempo game in Memorial Gymnasium.
The Dons had a chance to at least tie the game in the closing seconds but Nevada's Jerry Evans, Jr. stripped Doolin of the ball as time expired, giving the Wolf Pack a hard-fought two point victory.
Doolin's 33 points eclipses his previous career high of 28 points scored against Saint Mary's in the 2012 WCC Championship. He was 12-of-17 from the field tonight, including 3-of-4 from 3-point range and made 6-of-8 foul shots in 35 minutes of action.
However, Nevada kept the rest of the Dons in check, as
Matt Glover and
Mark Tollefsen were the only other players to reach double figures with 10 points.
USF had no answer for Nevada guard Deonte Burton, who scored 23 of his 31 points in the second half to pace the Wolf Pack.
Nevada shot 56.9 percent from the floor and held a 39-34 advantage on the boards. USF was 7-of-19 from three-point range.
USF built a 10-point lead at 36-26 at the 4:16 mark of the first half before taking a two-point lead into the intermission, 43-41.
The Dons extended their lead to 11 at 55-44 with 16:04 left and still enjoyed an eight point cushion at 59-51 with 14:29 remaining.
However, a 12-3 run gave the Wolf Pack their first lead of the second half at 63-62 with 11:30 left.
The game was tied at 72 with 6:21 left when Nevada used a 11-4 run to take a 83-76 lead with 3:16 remaining.
With Nevada nursing a 88-85 lead with a ittle more than a minute left, the Dons had a chance to tie the game but
Tim Derksen's 3-point attempt came up short.
The Dons fouled Ali Fall on the rebound and Fall made both free throws at the other end to give Nevada a 90-85 lead.
Doolin then drove the length of the court off the inbounds pass and his layup brought USF to within three at 90-87 with 57.1 remaining.
After USF's pressure forced a 10-second violation, Fall quickly fouled Doolin, who made both free throws to cut the lead to 90-89 with 42 ticks left.
With Nevada leading 92-90, USF's
Kruize Pinkins sent D.J. Penner to the line and after Penner missed both free throws with 8.3 second left, the Dos called a timeout to set up one last effort to either tie or win the game.
Doolin drove the length of the court but had the ball stripped by Evans in the key before he could get a shot off.
Despite the loss, USF head coach
Rex Walters had high-praises for his senior point guard who started his 102nd game tonight.
"Cody does it in a lot of different ways. Tonight he did it by scoring as well as creating for his teammates. It was a phenomenal effort by Cody, the best I've seen since he's been here. He truly tried to will us to victory."
"There were two great players on the court tonight. He was one of them the other happened to play for Nevada," said Walters, referencing Burton.
"We have to get better guarding the ball and keeping the other team off the glass, I thought they got a lot of timely rebounds and a lot of 50-50 balls."
USF will return to action on Monday taking on Idaho State in Memorial Gymnasium beginning at 7:00 p.m.
