The San Francisco Dons bounced back from first half struggles to send the Santa Clara Broncos to their eleventh straight WCC loss. The Dons 85-69 victory improved them to 6-6 in conference play and 16-10 overall, while Santa Clara dropped to 0-11 in conference play and 8-16 overall. Santa Clara looked like they might get off the schneid as they took a six point lead into halftime. Santa Clara climbed up by eleven midway through the second half, but USF caught fire with a 17-0 run to take the lead.
USF was led by a balanced team effort as four scorers reached double digits. Cody Doolin led the way with 20 points and dished out seven assists. Angelo Caloiaro scored 18 points while grabbing 13 rebounds, 4 steals and dishing out 3 assists of his own. The Dons shot 53.4% from the field, but the big difference for them was that they only committed seven turnovers. When they have struggled it has often been because of turnover issues, which they avoided Thursday evening.
Santa Clara's struggles continue as they remain winless in conference play. One positive to come out of the game was another 20 points from freshman Denzel Johnson. Since sitting Kevin Foster for his rules violation, Santa Clara has seen their freshman guard score at least 18 points in four of five games. They have not gotten enough additional help to win games, but they do at least have something to build on.
USF will travel down to San Diego on Saturday looking to get back over .500 in conference play, but more importantly, looking to move to two games ahead of the Toreros for fifth place in conference play. Santa Clara travels to Saint Mary's continuing their quest for that elusive first conference win.