Box Score
SAN DIEGO --
Cole Dickerson and
Mark Tollefsen combined for 43 points in USF's wire-to-wire, 83-70 victory over San Diego Thursday night at Jenny Craig Pavilion.
With the win - the Dons third straight and seventh victory in the last 10 games - USF (14-15, 7-9 WCC) clinches the No. 5 seed in next week's West Coast Conference Tournament and will play the winner of the No. 8-9 game on Thursday night.
USF played perhaps its most efficient game of the season in defeating the Toreros for the seventh time in the last eight meetings between the two schools. The Dons never trailed in the game and shot a season-high 60 percent from the floor, including 50 percent from three-point range, in posting their fifth conference road win of the season.
The Dons managed to outrebound the Toreros, 29-28.
Dickerson finished with 24 points and 12 rebounds for his 11th double-double of the season, while Tollefsen continues to shine in a starting role, finishing with 19 points on 9-of-10 shooting from the floor.
Cody Doolin added 16 points and six assists while De'End Parker chipped in with 11.
Ken Rancifer had 17 points to pace San Diego.
Th Dons raced out to a 18-2 lead 4:41 into the game and led by as many as 19 points in the first half before taking a 52-35 lead at intermission.
San Diego used a 18-10 run to cut the lead to nine at 62-53 with 11:36 remaining, but a quick 6-0 spurt boosted USF's lead back to 15 at 68-53 with 8:59 remaining.
The Dons lead was never fewer than 12 points down the stretch before winning by the final score of 83-70.
Six players accounted for USF's eight three-pointers tonight, led by Dickerson, who made 3-of-4 long balls on his way to a 24-point night.
"I'm proud of this group," said USF head coach
Rex Walters. "We hit a tough stretch in December and lost a little bit of confidence but our guys kept battling. We have a good worker's mindset right now.
"We're hard to guard and I still think we have to get better on the defensive side of the ball and do a better job on the glass. But we lost 75 percent of our scoring from last year and to finish in the same spot we did last year says a lot about the guys who returned and those who came into the program.
"We're in fifth place in a league that has the No. 2 team in the nation - possibly No. 1 - Saint Mary's is a tournament team and BYU is potentially a tournament team if they get hot in the WCC tournament. Santa Clara is going to play in postseason somewhere. Our young guys have really stepped up for this University and our basketball program."
