SPOKANE, Wash. – Squaring off against the 15th ranked team in the country in a gym the program has never won in, the University of San Francisco men's basketball team played their best game of the season, unfortunately a late surge by Gonzaga gave the Bulldogs an 82-73 win Saturday evening at the McCarthy Athletic Center.
USF (12-11, 4-6 WCC) should not feel discouraged with their effort. Midway through the first half Gonzaga led by 18, their largest lead of the night, but the Dons refused to go away. USF went on a 16-3 run over the final seven in a half minutes, holding the Bulldogs to three points over the final 10 minutes of the opening half to go into the locker room trailing 32-29.
Coming out of the intermission, the Dons and Bulldogs traded shots for the first several possessions. With 14:50 in the game,
Jordan Ratinho hit a 3-point field goal on the far wing to tie the game up 45-45. The basket was Ratinho's 500
th career point.
The Bulldogs came out of the media timeout and pushed their lead to 11, but again USF refused to go away. A pair of free throws by Ratinho saw the Dons trailing by just three with 2:21 to play. That's as close as they would get, as Gonzaga was able to put the game away with free throws.
Ratinho and
Frankie Ferrari led the Dons with 15 points apiece.
Chase Foster scored 13 in 26 minutes of action.
Matt McCarthy scored 10, including a pair of 3-point field goals in the second half.
Nate Renfro grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds while
Jimbo Lull gave the Dons 14 spectacular minutes, scoring six points and playing gritty defense against the Bulldogs strong post players.
COACHES QUOTE
GAME NOTES
- File this in moral victory category: minus the loss to Saint Mary's, Gonzaga's margin of victory in WCC action 33, 49, 30, 19, 46, 10, 15, 15, and 9. No one has been within 10 except the Dons, twice.
- For the first time all season, the Dons were on the losing end when scoring 73 or more. That had been the Dons magic number this season, having gone 8-0 when scoring at least 73 points.
- The Dons set a season-high in 3-point field goal percentage, going 9-for-18 from beyond the arc. The previous high had been 45.5 (10-22) in the win over UC Davis.
- The Dons tied their season-high shooting 50.9 percent from the field (28-55) it is the first time this season the Dons came out on the losing end after shooting 50 percent or better. They had been 3-0 in those games prior to tonight.
- USF was much better from the free throw line tonight than they were in the first match up, going 8-for-11 from the charity stripe. Gonzaga finished the night 18-for-23, 15-for-18 in the second half.
- The Dons losing streak in Spokane reaches 29 tonight. They last won in Spokane on Feb. 10, 1989, 67-64. They have not won in the McCarthy Athletic Center…yet.
UP NEXT
The road does not get any easier for USF, they return to the Bay Area for a showdown against No. 16 Saint Mary's next Thursday in Moraga. That game is slated for an 8:00 p.m. start and will be televised on ESPNU.
