MBB | Dons Blast Beach in Home Debut - University of San Francisco Athletics

Thursday, December 10

San Francisco

6:00 P.M.

University of San Francisco

5-2

107

Long Beach State

1-2

Team	1	2	F
Long Beach St.	25	37	62
USF	44	63	107

Junior Damari Milstead scored a team-high 24 points in his home debut.

Photo by: Christina Leung

MBB | Dons Blast Beach in Home Debut

12/10/2020 10:20:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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SAN FRANCISCO – For the third consecutive game the University of San Francisco men's basketball team put on a scoring display. On Thursday night the Dons eclipsed the 100 point plateau, defeating Long Beach State 107-62 at War Memorial at the Sobrato Center.

The Dons (5-2) surpassed the century mark for the 88^th time in program history and for the second-consecutive year scored 100 points in their home debut. Last season, USF defeated Sonoma State 101-50 on November 5. With the win tonight, USF improves to 76-6 in games in which they score 100 or more points.

USF was also afforded the luxury of unloading the bench, with all 15 players seeing action. Leading the team in scoring was newcomer Damari Milstead who finished with 25 points, one point shy of tying his career-high. Milstead finished the night 7-for-11 from the field and 4-for-6 from beyond the arc. Fellow newcomer Julian Rishwain finished with 15 points, which matches his career-best outing against De Paul on November 23, 2019 when he was at Boston College. Jamaree Bouyea added 18 points.

"Just another good team effort," said head coach Todd Golden. "We had a couple of guys step up. I thought Damari Milstead played great. I'm really happy for him, he has had a great attitude and has accepted his role. For him to come out and play as well as he did tonight is a statement to his character. Julian Rishwain played well, you are starting to see some guys step up and show the depth of our team."

What helped USF separate from Long Beach State (1-2) was a tremendous night from beyond the arc. The Dons shot 54.5 percent from long range going 18-for-33. The 18 made 3-point field goals is one shy of the single game record set last year in the win over CSU Bakersfield.

"You know what its who we are a little bit roster wise and I'm fine with it," said Golden on the Dons three point shooting. "I think we take good ones. When we make them, in stretches like we did tonight we can really extend and get big leads. You've got to live with the volatility a little bit, there's going to be some nights where you don't shoot it great, but we have shooting talent. I think on most nights we will be consistent in that way and if we can continue to get stops we will keep being able to extend."

The Dons finished with a season-high in assists (21) and rebounds (51). The last time the Dons had 50 or more rebounds in a game came on February 22, 2020 in the Dons win over Pepperdine. Overall, USF had its best rebounding night, finishing +21 on the glass.

Long Beach State finished the night without a player in double figures and was led by Joe Hampton's team-high nine points. Six other players finished with six or more points. The Beach shot just 29.2 percent from the field going 19-for-65 form the floor and 4-for-13 from beyond the arc.

Long Beach state jumped out to an early 4-0 lead while the Dons were finding their footing on the home floor. But with the score tied 14-14 a triple by Milstead gave the Dons the lead for good. USF went into the locker room leading 44-25 and extended that lead thanks to a 18-3 run in the middle of the second half put the game on ice.

The Dons will return to action on Sunday when they travel to to Haas Pavilion to take on the California Golden Bears. Sunday's game is slated to tip off at Noon and will be televised on the Pac-12 Network. Pat Olson will have the radio broadcast on the home of USF Dons basketball, KNBR 1050-AM.