Hawthorne, Gigiberia Push Dons Past Hawks

Thursday, December 22

San Francisco, Calif.

6:00 pm

University of San Francisco

11-4,0-0WCC

Hartford

4-11,0-0DI Independent

Team	1	2	F
Hartford	22	31	53
San Francisco	40	45	85

Photo by: Christina Leung

12/22/2022 10:00:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. – Cruising to another dominant victory at home, the University of San Francisco men's basketball team (11-4) closed out their non-conference schedule with a 32-point win over Hartford (4-11) on Thursday night as the Dons handled the Hawks, 85-53, at War Memorial at the Sobrato Center.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

Similar to the Arizona State game on Wednesday night, the Dons came racing out of the gates offensively as USF took a commanding 14-0 lead less than four minutes into play following back-to-back three-pointers from Isaiah Hawthorne.
As the half progressed, the green and gold did not let up as a jumper in the paint from Volodymyr Markovetskyy at 11:01 pushed USF's advantage to eighteen, 27-9.
Picking each other up on both ends of the floor, the Dons would maintain their intensity throughout the first twenty minutes as they led 40-22 going into the halftime break. Notably, the 22 points allowed by USF in the first half marked the lowest point total by an opponent in a first half this season.
Coming out of the locker room, free throws from Khalil Shabazz and a triple from Josh Kunen pushed the score to 50-27 in favor of the green and gold at the 16:49 mark in the second half.
Firing on all cylinders, the Dons led by as many as 20 for all but one minute down the stretch, which included USF extending their advantage to 31, 81-50, on a powerful dunk from Saba Gigiberia with time winding down.
Leaving no doubt, two free throws from Justin Bieker with five seconds left in regulation sealed the 32-point win for USF as four Dons finished in double figures in the 85-53 victory.

NOTABLE PERFORMANCES:

Posting another career-high for the second straight night, Hawthorne was selected as Player of the Game after finishing with a game-high 20 points and eight rebounds in 29 minutes played. Impressively, the Tracy native shot 6-of-9 from the floor overall, including 5-of-6 from distance and a perfect 3-of-3 from the charity stripe.
Adding to the offensive firepower, Gigiberia tallied a new career-high with 16 points as he also pulled down seven rebounds while shooting 6-of-8 from the floor and knocking down two three-pointers. Showing his versatility, the big man also added two assists and one block while sinking both of his free throws in just 15 minutes played.
Additionally, Markovetskyy (11 points) and Tyrell Roberts 910 points) each finished in double figures for the Dons.
As a team, USF shot 49.1 percent from the field (28-57) and 40.0 percent from deep (12-30) while leading the Hawks in points in the paint (28-16), points off turnovers (15-4), second chance points (7-3), fast break points (9-2) and bench points (23-15).

POSTGAME WITH THE DONS:

To view the full highlights of tonight's contest, please click here.
To view the full postgame interview with head coach Chris Gerlufsen and Tyrell Roberts, please click here.

UP NEXT:
USF will take the next week off for the holiday break as the Dons will return to the court to open West Coast Conference play next Thursday, Dec. 29 with a 7:00 pm road matchup at Santa Clara. Live streaming, radio and live statistics links are available via the team's schedule page.

FOLLOW US:
For updates and more information on the USF men's basketball program, follow the Dons @USFDonsMBB on Twitter, @USFDonsMBB on Instagram and @USFDonsMBB on Facebook.

MERCHANDISE:
Want to dress like the Dons? Rep USF today by visiting the all-new USF Dons online store at www.usfdons.com/shop.

SPONSOR THE DONS:
The University of San Francisco Athletics Department would like to acknowledge and thank our primary sponsor - Provident Credit Union - for their continued support of USF Athletics. Interested in sponsoring the Dons? Please contact Frank Allocco, the Executive Senior Associate Athletics Director of External Relations, at fallocco@usfca.edu or at (415) 422-4561.