Sharpshooting Dons Defend Home Court in Win over Beavers

Saturday, January 18

San Francisco, Calif.

7:00 PM

University of San Francisco

16-5,6-2WCC

Oregon State

14-6,4-3WCC

Oregon St.

San Francisco

Photo by: Christina Leung

1/18/2025 11:00:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. - Leading for the final 34 minutes of play, the University of San Francisco men's basketball team never wavered on Saturday night as the Dons took down Oregon State (14-6, 4-3 WCC), 81-70, at War Memorial at the Sobrato Center.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

Trading baskets in the opening minutes, San Francisco and Oregon State were even out of the gates, but Malik Thomas' first three-pointer of the game at 17:33 put the Dons in front, 5-4.
Shortly thereafter, the Beavers gathered some momentum and jumped out to a 14-7 advantage following back-to-back layups from Parsa Fallah near the 15-minute mark. However, the green and gold responded with a 10-0 run to regain the lead, 17-14, after a pair of free throws from Ryan Beasley at 12:39.
Continuing to fight, Oregon State evened the contest at 24-all on a free throw from Fallah at 8:42, but Beasley once again punched back by draining a triple 36 seconds later to give USF the lead back, 27-24.
After two at the charity stripe from Michael Rataj made it a one-point game, 29-28, with 6:09 remaining in the half, San Francisco would go on to outscore the Beavers 14-6 in the final six plus minutes of the opening period. Heading into the locker room, the Dons held a nine-point advantage, 43-34.
Coming out of the break, Thomas and Carlton Linguard Jr. combined to score USF's first four field goals of the second half as the green and gold grew their lead to twelve, 52-40, at 17:23.
Following a layup from Rataj at 15:33, San Francisco would hold Oregon State scoreless over the next three plus minutes as the Dons ballooned their advantage to nineteen points, 61-42, when Thomas connected on another three-pointer at 12:14.
With just under eight minutes left on the game clock, Tyrone Riley IV cashed in on consecutive triples to blow the game open in favor of San Francisco, 73-52. Less than two minutes later, another three from the freshman gave the Dons their largest lead of the night at 22 points, 77-55.
Going down swinging, Oregon State whittled their deficit to as little as ten points down the stretch, but the green and gold ultimately dug deep to defend home court. Converting on one final free throw with 48 seconds left, Riley IV helped San Francisco take down the Beavers by a final score of 81-70 on Saturday night.

NOTABLE PERFORMANCES:

Dictating the flow from the point guard position, Williams was tabbed Player of the Game after finishing with 21 points, 5 assists 1 rebound and 1 steal. Overall, the Dickinson, Texas native shot 8-of-12 from the field, 4-of-5 from beyond-the-arc and 1-of-1 from the free throw line. Notably, his four made three-pointers tied a season-high.
Making it look easy offensively, Thomas finished with a game-high 24 points to go along with three assists and two rebounds. Impressively, the performance marked Thomas' eleventh game this season with 20 or more points.
Alongside Williams and Thomas, Riley IV (15 points) and Linguard Jr. (11 points) also finished in double figures in the victory. As a team, San Francisco led Oregon State in points off turnovers (15-11) and fast break points (14-3).

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, please click here.
To view the full postgame interview with Ryan Beasley and Tyrone Riley IV, please click here.

UP NEXT:
San Francisco will remain in the Bay Area next week as the Dons will make the short trip across the Bay Bridge for a battle at Saint Mary's next Thursday, Jan. 23. Tipoff from University Credit Union Pavilion is set for 6:00 pm as the game will air live on CBS Sports Network and KNBR 1050. Live streaming, radio and live statistics links are available via the team's schedule page.

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

MERCHANDISE:
Want to dress like the Dons? Get your official San Francisco Dons gear from the University of San Francisco bookstore today! Click here to purchase.

SPONSOR THE DONS:
The University of San Francisco Athletics Department would like to acknowledge and thank our sponsor - Park 'N Fly - for their continued support of San Francisco 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.