The San Francisco Dons improved to 2-1 on the season Sunday as they just barely escaped War Memorial Gymnasium with a 71-70 victory over the Ragin Cajuns of Louisiana-Lafayette. San Francisco took the lead with 26 seconds left on a layup by Cody Doolin and then had to withstand a pair of frenetic last second field goal attempts to leave victorious. The Dons defeated ULL and Northern Arizona in their second annual Hilltop Challenge.
For the third consecutive day, the Dons had a different leading scorer as Angelo Caloiaro ld the team with 18 points and 10 rebounds. Cody Doolin added 15 points, including the game-winning shot, and Michael Williams added 11. The team improved their turnover total after a pair of tough performances. Turnovers killed them in their opener against North Dakota State, but they overcame double-digit turnovers the last two days to get a pair of wins.
After three games in three days, the Dons will take a few days off before welcoming San Jose State on Wednesday. The Spartans are off to an 0-1 start after a loss to Cal Poly out of the Big West. The Dons face the Spartans followed by a trip to Seattle University before opening up the Great Alaska Shootout in Anchorage.
Here is some video from USF's victory over Louisiana-Lafayette, interspersed with comments from Coach Rex Walters: