SAN FRANCISCO – The University of San Francisco men's basketball overcame a turnover plagued first half to cruise to a 24 point West Coast Conference victory over visiting Portland on Thursday night at War Memorial at the Sobrato Center. A 10-0 run out of the break, and a tremendous defensive performance gave USF a 88-64 win to improve to 2-1 in league play.
 
"In the first half I thought we were a little snake bit," said head coach Todd Golden on the Dons' first half. "Their bigs stepped out and hitting a couple of threes. Towards the end of the half we had carved out an eight point lead, but we started getting a little lazy with the ball and we sent them to the foul line.  That was a big key for us going in to this game was not letting them get to the line.  In the second half we did a much better job defensively, we didn't give up any threes and only five free throws and that was a big reason why we were able to extend."
 
Portland (6-4, 0-1 WCC) came out of the game shooting incredibly well.  The Pilots shot 51.9 percent in the first half and were 5-for-8 from long range, 25 of their 43 points came from beyond the arc or at the free throw line where they were 10-for-12 in the first half. 
 
USF (8-5, 2-1 WCC) shot equally well in the opening period, connecting on 51.6 percent of their attempts from the field but were less effective from long range shooting just 35.7 percent from beyond the arc.
 
In the opening minutes of the first half both teams came out swinging.  At the first media timeout the game was tied 11-11 with both teams shooting north of 63 percent from the field. The back and forth play continued past the second media when Damari Milstead broke the tie with a triple on the far corner off the feed from Taavi Jurkatamm.
 
Milstead finished the game with 10 points and was one of four Dons in double figures.  He also added three assists and two rebounds in his strongest outing in conference play.
 
"I thought Damari was awesome," said Golden on the junior guard. "I think he's getting more comfortable and I think you'll see over the course of the next couple of weeks he will continue to play well. He had great command out there and he's a really plus defender."
 
Nursing an eight point lead late in the first half, sloppy play down the stretch by USF enabled the Pilots to go on a 13-2 run and go into the locker room up 43-41 at the half.  The Dons turned it over 11 times in the first half and Portland turned those 11 turnovers into 14 points. 
 
Out of the break, the Dons turned it on defensively.  USF went on a 10-0 run and completely took all the momentum from the Pilots.  USF was keyed by the resurgence of Khalil Shabazz who scored 13 of his game-high 19 points after the break. 
 
"Khalil makes us go," said Golden. "Obviously Jamaree has been a great player for us and is so consistent as he was tonight. But when Khalil is playing really, really well like he did tonight we're extremely tough.  I thought when he got it going in the second half it gave us the opportunity to extend."
 
Shabazz and Milstead were joined by Dzmitry Ryuny and Jamaree Bouyea in double figures.  Ryuny finished with 16 points and six rebounds along with four assists, three steals and two blocks.  Bouyea had 14, along with five rebounds, seven assists, three steals and three blocks.
 
The unsung hero of the evening was Josh Kunen. The sophomore finished with just four points but filled up the stat sheet everywhere else.
 
"I thought Josh had his best defensive game of the year.  I think he did a phenomenal job on Eddie Davis.  He ended up with two steals and three blocks. His ability to move his feet against Davis who is a really quick driving four was really awesome."
 
Kunen finished the game with a game-high nine rebounds, a season-high.  He had five offensive boards along with three assists, two steals and three blocks.
 
The Pilots had three players in double figures and were led by Isiah Dasher who had 17.  Fellow guard Ahmed Ali had 13 and Davis finished with 10.  After shooting 51.9 percent in the first half, the Dons held the Pilots to 27.6 percent in the second.  Portland was 0-for-8 from beyond the arc after the break.
 
USF finished the night with 11 steals and 10 blocks.  The last time the Dons finished with 10 blocks came in a win over Santa Clara on January 9, 2020.
 
"I told the guys after the game and before the game, Portland entered this game 6-3 they are having a good year and none of these games are easy once you get to league play," said Golden. "I don't think we took that for granted and I thought they played well in the first half, they scored 43. But to our guys credit, they answered the call in the second half and we snuffed them out. To be able to win by 24, especially when trailing at the half, it's a great building block and hopefully we can carry momentum into the game on Sunday."
 
The Dons will return to action on Sunday when they travel to Gersten Pavilion to take on the Lions.  That game will tip off at 4:00 p.m. and will be streamed on the WCC Network.  Pat Olson will have the radio call on KNBR 1050-AM.