Final Stats

March 4, 2006

San Diego upset USF 62-59 in the quarterfinals of the West Coast Conference tournament in Spokane Saturday night behind 17 points by Nick Lewis. The Dons held a late lead but a goaltending call against USF with :58 left gave the Toreros the lead for good.

San Francisco went on a 10-0 scoring spree to go up 59-58 on a layup by Jerome Gumbs.

But a goaltending call on the Dons put San Diego up 60-59 and Nir Cohen sank two free throws to seal the win. Cohen finished with 13 points.

Alan Wiggins led the Dons with 12 points and 8 rebounds. Gumbs scored 11 points for San Francisco in a game marked by poor shooting and turnovers.

San Diego made just 24-of-54 shots from the floor (44 percent), while San Francisco hit 24-of-56 (43 percent).

"We dug a hole in the first half and I fell behind at intermission," said head coach Jessie Evans. "San Diego capitalized on it and I thought that last shot at the end of the first half was a big shot for them because it gave them a little momentum going into the locker room.

"In the second half, we came strong. We moved the basketball and shared it, did some good things and were able to catch them. Down the stretch we seemed like we ran out of gas when we lost Alan with fouls.

"I'm really proud of my guys. I thought we showed some character, some composure and came back, but San Diego tonight was just a little bit better.

"We played this season with three redshirts and its tough to go into the conference wars with that many, but that was my decision

"I'm really proud of the team, they played hard, but it wasn't meant to be."

Corey Belser finished with 9 points and 8 rebounds for the Toreros. His shot while falling to the floor at the buzzer gave the Toreros a 34-31 halftime lead.

San Francisco built a 28-20 lead on an 8-0 run in the first half, holding San Diego scoreless for 5 1/2 minutes, but Cohen and Lewis led a 7-0 run to go up 29-28 with two minutes remaining before the half.

The Dons turned the ball over 18 times, leading to 22 San Diego points.

San Francisco held the edge in rebounds, 36-32.