The San Francisco Dons and Santa Clara Broncos squared off in Santa Clara Thursday evening continuing a historic regional rivalry. The Dons won with relative ease 90-77 using a total team effort to overcome a big game from Broncos freshman guard Denzel Johnson. USF improved to 14-9 overall and 4-5 in conference. Santa Clara's nightmare conference season continued as they fell to 8-12 overall and 0-7 in conference.
The Dons got double-digit contributions from four different players, with Angelo Caloiaro leading the way with 20 points. Perris Blackwell (19), Rashad Green (18) and Cody Doolin (14) all contributed double digits as well. Green added nine rebounds and Caloiaro dished out a team-high five assists. The Dons won their second straight and fourth in five games to climb to a game and a half back of Loyola Marymount for fourth place in the WCC.
The Broncos struggled again without suspended star Kevin Foster. Freshman Denzel Johnson came out of nowhere to lead the team with 26 points. The production surpassed his previous high of six points in the season-opener against California-Merced. Johnson played 34 minutes, which almost doubled his previous career-high of 19 minutes against UC-Santa Barbara. While Santa Clara tries to figure out what to do with Kevin Foster, Johnson could be providing a glimpse into a promising future.
The Dons host San Diego on Saturday then get a week off before heading to Southern California for a return game against Loyola Marymount. The Broncos travel to Pepperdine on Saturday in search of their elusive first conference victory and hoping to snap a seven-game losing streak.