USF Falls To St. Mary's In Moraga

The St. Mary's Gaels rolled up the San Francisco Dons to keep them on the top of the WCC. St. Mary's shot 67% from the field to 47% of USF, out rebounded the Dons 31-20, and had five more assists. St. Mary's led by 12 at halftime and had as much as a 20 point lead en route to starting conference play 3-0.

St. Mary's was led by their incredible shooter Matthew Dellavedova, who shot 9 of 13 from the field and knocked down six threes to finish with 27 points, six rebounds and four assists. Rob Jones shot 7 of 11 (three threes as well) and finished with 18 points and nine rebounds, and then Stephen Holt nearly had a triple double with 11 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds.

Angelo Caloiaro finished with 20 points, Cole Dickerson added 14 points, and Perris Blackwell put up 12 points to lead the Dons in scoring.

The San Francisco Dons entered the 2011-12 WCC portion of their schedule with high hopes for competing with Gonzaga, BYU and Santa Clara this season. Those hopes ran into a mild speed bump as the Dons were handled with relative ease by the Pepperdine Waves in Malibu Thursday evening, losing 71-59. The Dons dropped to 9-5 overall and 0-1 in conference play.

The Dons fell behind 7-0 early in the first half but managed to even things up after the under-eight timeout. However, the Waves went on a 13-4 run to close out the half with a 39-30 lead. The Dons were held to a season-low 61 points as they shot only 37.7% from the field and a meager 16.7% from three-point territory. Angelo Caloiaro led the team with 14 points and Perris Blackwell added 11 points.

Pepperdine dominated on the glass with a 41-29 edge and shot 59.3% in the first half to take their 39-30 lead. Corbin Moore scored a game-high 19 points with 12 rebounds to lead Pepperdine. Taylor Darby added 14 points, while Caleb Willis and Jordan Baker added 10 apiece.

The Dons head home to face Loyola Marymount in their conference home opener on Saturday, December 31. The game will be broadcast live by 95.7 The Game.

The San Francisco Dons open up their 2011-12 WCC season with a road game against the Pepperdine Waves, with tip off set for 7:00pm PT. The Dons enter conference play with a 9-4 record following a loss to Holy Cross on December 22. The 9-4 mark is USF's best record since they started 12-1 in 1999-00.

The Dons are led by senior forward Angelo Caloiaro who leads the team in scoring (13.7) and rebounds (6.8). Caloiaro enters conference play ranked No. 33 on the USF career scoring list with 965 points (9.0 ppg). Next up is former Dons star guard, USF head coach and 1977 AP National Coach of the Year Bob Gaillard (1959-62) at No. 32 with 976. Caloiaro gets help inside from Rashad Green and Perris Blackwell, who each average 5.2 rebounds per game.

The Waves enter West Coast Conference play with a winning record (6-5) for the first time since 2004-05 and have won three of their last five contests. Pepperdine dropped a 67-56 decision to Washington State at the Cougar Hardwood Classic in Seattle (12/22/11) in its final non-conference tune-up. Senior forward Taylor Darby leads Pepperdine on offense averaging 12.1 points and 7.0 rebounds, while senior center Corbin Moore adds 10.5 points and a team-high 8.5 rebounds. Longtime assistant coach Marty Wilson is in his first season as head coach at his alma mater after serving under mentor Tom Asbury as associate head coach for the last three years. Pepperdine posted a 12-21 record in 2010-11 and went 5-9 during WCC play.

The game will not be televised, but the radio broadcast is available at USFDons.com. Video will be streamed at Pepperdinesports.com.

The USF Dons hosted the Pacific Tigers on Saturday night, and came away with yet another win. With their 79-69 victory, USF becomes the first WCC team to reach 8 wins in 2011.

The Dons are now a stellar 5-1 at home, while the Tigers have yet to score a road victory this season. Although USF trailed after the first half by a score of 34-32, they roared back after the intermission to pick up the impressive win.

Forward Angelo Caloiaro of USF led all scorers with 29 points. He also managed a double-double as he finished with 11 rebounds and a steal in his 33 minutes on the floor. Guard Rashad Green picked up 18 points, five rebounds and four assists.

Pacific's top scorer was forward Ross Rivera, who wound up with 18 points and four rebounds.

The Dons now sport and overall record of 8-3. They play their next game at home on December 17 when they will host Menlo College Oaks.

The San Francisco Dons wrapped up their season-long five-game road trip Thursday evening with a 65-62 victory over the Montana Grizzlies. The Dons improved to 6-3 on the season behind strong efforts from Rashad Green and Angelo Caloiaro. USF heads home for a three-game homestand where they will face off against Pacific Union, Pacific and Menlo College.

USF did not trail through the first half as they took a 34-28 lead into the locker room. They came out and maintained that lead into the under-16 timeout when things began to get a little hairy. The Grizzlies clawed back to take their first lead with 8:01 remaining on a Mike Weisner three-pointer. Montana expanded the lead to six with 3:51 remaining when USF took a full timeout.

Rashad Green grabbed the final four of his 18 points in the game coming out of the timeout on a pair of layups to cut the lead to two. After Angelo Caloiaro made a layup to tie the game, Kareem Jamar converted a three-point play on a layup and the foul. Cody Doolin responded with his own three to tie the game and then added a layup with 35 seconds left to take the lead. The Dons would add one free throw to net the final victory margin as Montana missed a pair of three-points and a layup over the final 1:10.

The Dons are wrapping up their non-conference schedule over the next three weeks. They have the three home games mentioned above, following by a pre-Christmas trip to Massachusetts to face Holy Cross on December 22. USF will then open conference play on December 29 in Southern California against Pepperdine.

The University of San Francisco Dons dropped an 81-71 decision to the New Mexico State Aggies Saturday evening as they struggled down the stretch run. USF took a five point lead into the under-12 timeout and were deadlocked with NMSU heading into the final seven minutes. However, the Aggies got hot just as the Dons fell prey to turnovers once again.

The Dons were led by Angelo Caloiaro who scored 22 points, including 4-of-7 from three point range. Perris Blackwell finished with 12 points and 6 rebounds and Rashad Green added 11 points, 6 assists, 3 rebounds and 3 steals. New Mexico State got 23 points from Christian Kabongo. The Aggies dominated USF on the glass with a 32-19 edge. New Mexico State also got to the free throw line far more frequently, hitting 30 of 38 free throws while USF made 13 of 18.

USF wraps up their longest road trip of the season with a trip to Missoula to face the 4-2 Montana Grizzlies. Tipoff is at 6:00pm PT on December 1 and will be broadcast live on USFDons.com.

After trailing by eleven points at the half, the San Francisco Dons made a furious run in the second half. Unfortunately, it was not enough as USF fell for the second time in 2011 by a score of 70-67.

For the Dons, Rashad Green led the way with 23 points and shot 7-for-10 from the field. He contributed on the glass with five rebounds, though four turnovers in the second half hurt his team greatly. Cody Doolin added 18 points, hauled in five rebounds and dished out five assists, while Michael Williams contributed 10 points of his own.

Murray State's dynamic duo of Donte Poole and Isaiah Canaan were spectacular on Friday evening. Poole scored 22 points and hit four 3's, while Canaan scored 21 with four 3's of his own. Jewuan Long and Ivan Aska stepped up big in the second half, combining to score 22 points in a winning effort.

This is a tough loss for San Francisco, but their ability to battle back says a lot about the team. They will continue to improve throughout the year. The talent and experience is already in place.

The Great Alaska Shootout is underway and features quite a few of the more promising mid-major teams in 2011. At the half of tonight's matchup, the San Francisco Dons trail the Murray State Racers by a score of 30-19.

The Dons struggled to connect in the first half and only converted on nine shots against a tough MSU defense. Cody Doolin led the way with nine points and dished out three assists as well. Rashad Green and Michael Williams added four points as well for USF.

Murray State has seen two players score tonight: Donte Poole and Isaiah Canaan. As a matter of fact, those two have taken every shot in the game other than a missed 3-pointer at the buzzer. Poole had 16 in the first half, while Canaan had 14 points and four rebounds. 

The second half is just getting underway from Anchorage. USF is off to a strong start this season and a comeback victory would be huge for the program.

The University of San Francisco Dons opened the 2011 Carrs Great Alaska Shootout Wednesday evening with a 71-69 victory over the Dartmouth Big Green. Although the Dons entered the game as nine-point favorites, they once again found themselves in a dogfight that came down to the wire. The Dons have won five straight and their last four have come by a combined eleven point margin of victory.

The Cardiac Kids from the Hilltop continue to do just enough to take care of business. The Dons cut down on their turnovers to some degree, but they struggled to put away a tough Dartmouth squad. USF actually trailed 8-0 and 15-6 as Dartmouth brought their A-game early on. However, the Dons finally managed to even things up in the final four minutes of the first half and went into the locker room up five at the half.

The Dons extended their lead to as much as ten in the second half, but as has been the case in recent games, the opposition fought back and made USF work to the wire. Dartmouth cut the lead to one on a David Rufful three pointer. USF shot 3-of-6 on free throws in the final 37 seconds and that allowed the Big Green to stay in the game. Dartmouth had the ball with seven seconds left down three, but USF made the smart play of falling Jabari Trotter before he could attempt a game-tying shot. Trotter split the free throws and USF held on for the win.

The Dons were led by junior guard Michael Williams who scored 23 points and grabbed five rebounds. San Francisco got 18 points from Rashad Green and 16 points from Angelo Caloiaro who each joined Williams with five rebounds apiece. It was a fairly even contest on the boards. Dartmouth outshot USF, but the Dons managed an additional eleven free throw attempts.

USF advances to the semifinal of the Shootout where they will face the Murray State Racers. Murray State held on to beat the host, Alaska-Anchorage. That game will take place at 5:30pm PT on Friday November 25.

The University of San Francisco Dons will continue their longest road trip of the season as they open the 2011 Carrs Great Alaska Shootout in Anchorage. The Dons will face the Dartmouth Big Green in their opening game Wednesday night. The Dons currently are 11-1/2 point favorites against Dartmouth. Of course, given the recent run of tight ball games, the spread probably doesn't mean a whole lot.

The Big Green are 1-2 under second year ehad coach Paul Cormier and are coming off a 66-62 win over Bryant University. They are led by junior guard R.J. Griffin who leads the team with 15.3 points per game. Gabas Maldunas is their force inside, averaging 10.0 points and 6.7 rebounds per game. Maldunas will likely find himself in some tough battles inside against Perris Blackwell and Angelo Caloiaro. The Dons are getting huge efforts from their two forwards who are averaging a combined 27.2 points and 14.2 rebounds per game.

The Dons have found themselves in some nail-biters early this season, winning their last three games by a combined nine points. USF's primary struggle has been turning the ball over, with sloppiness costing them their one loss against North Dakota State.

USF will face the winner or loser of Murray State vs. Alaska-Anchorage depending on the outcome of USF's game. That semifinal matchup will take place Friday at 5:30pm. All 16 games (four women, 12 men) of the 2011 Carrs/Safeway Great Alaska Shootout will be streamed live in video on GoSeawolves.com. Full-tournament subscription packages cost $19.95, while single-day passes can be purchased for $6.95. You can listen to audio of the games at USFDons.com.