MORAGA, Calif. – USF came into its game against Saint Mary's having won 11 of its last 14 West Coast Conference road games but for the 12^th straight year could not find a way skirt around the road block in Moraga, falling to the Gaels, 69-56.
 
USF (7-7, 1-1) had no answer for Saint Mary's center Brad Waldow, who scored 21 points of 10-of-15 shooting and grabbed 10 rebounds. Desmond Simmons added 13 and Garrett Jackson and Emmett Naar scored 10 each to help the Gaels to their 18^th win in the last 19 meetings with USF.
 
USF's top two scorers, Kruize Pinkins and Mark Tollefsen, were held to four and nine points, respectively. Tim Derksen (16) and Matt Glover (10) were the only two Dons to score in double figures.
 
Freshman Devin Watson came off the bench to score eight points and dish out a career high seven assists in a 27 minute playing stint.
 
The Dons shot 43.1 percent from the field while the Gaels clipped the nets at 51.9 percent. Saint Mary's also had the better of it on the boards, 30-28.
 
Saint Mary's (9-3, 2-0) also benefitted from 14 Dons' turnovers which led to 21 points.
 
USF trailed by just five points at the half, 29-24 but a 13-4 run boosted the Gaels lead to 42-28 with 13:57 remaining. The Dons managed to cut the lead to single digits at 44-35 when Chris Adams buried a three-pointer with 11:39 remaining.
 
Saint Mary's then scored the next seven points, capped off by a Simmons three-pointer, to take a 53-35 lead with 8:39 left. The Dons could get no closer than 11 points down the stretch.
 
USF will return to action Thursday night when the Dons take on San Diego beginning at 7:00 p.m. in Memorial Gymnasium.
 
Rex Walters' Post-Game Comments
 
"The toughness of Simmons and Waldow bothered him (Pinkins). He just didn't have a good game tonight."
 
"The one thing you know you are going to get with Saint Mary's is toughness. They willed themselves defensively against two of out better players."
 
"We haven't earned the right yet to call this a rivalry. We need to fight like we did the last three minutes tomorrow in practice and then Thursday night against San Diego."