USF Knocks Pepperdine Out of First-Place Tie

The University of San Francisco’s basketball team has had an up-and-down season.

USF has been up in victories over such top teams as St. Mary’s and Notre Dame, but down in losses to lesser teams.

The Dons were decidedly up-and-down Friday night. But they rose at the end to edge Pepperdine, 64-65, before a crowd of 2,965 at Memorial Gymnasium.

Pepperdine fell to 18-10 overall and 10-3 in the West Coast Athletic Conference. The Waves also were bumped out of a first-place tie with 19th-ranked St. Mary’s (23-3, 11-2), which defeated Gonzaga, 67-63, in overtime on the road to win the regular-season title.

The Waves are tied for second place with Loyola Marymount, which beat Santa Clara Friday night.

USF improved to 15-11 and 7-6.

Joel DeBortoli and Kevin Mouton made the game’s key plays down the stretch. DeBortoli, who scored a game-high 21 points, hit two free throws with 6 seconds left, and Mouton stole the ball in the last second at half-court from a driving Shann Ferch to pull out the victory.

In Mouton’s case, he made up for an intentional foul that was called on him with 2:28 left.

With USF leading, 61-57, Tom Lewis sank two free throws, and Dexter Howard made an eight-foot jumper to tie it at 61-61.

Ferch made one of two free throws to give the Waves a 62-61 lead. But James Bell responded by making both ends of a one-and-one, putting the Dons ahead, 63-62.

The lead changed hands for the 11th time when Ferch hit two free throws with 23 seconds remaining, giving Pepperdine a 64-63 edge.

USF tried to give the ball to Mark McCathrion at the top of the key, but after getting a pass, he found that he was covered and passed off.

Then DeBortoli got the ball near the paint, and a shooting foul was called on freshman Geoff Lear. DeBortoli made both free throws to give his team the victory.

Pepperdine Coach Tom Asbury said he didn’t think that Lear had fouled DeBortoli. “It did not look like (a foul) from my angle, but when does it ever from a coach’s angle. If we’re a contending team, we have to be up by five or six (at that point), then it doesn’t matter.”

Pepperdine took its first lead of the game at 24-21 on a three-point play by Lear and extended it to 31-24 with 3:33 left in the first half, the biggest lead that either team managed to fashion all night.

The Waves led at halftime, 33-30.

It was a different USF team in the second half. The Dons played much tougher defense inside and outside and took advantage of their opportunities, instead of frittering them away.

USF Coach Jim Brovelli said his team was “particularly good” at keeping the Waves’ big men off the backboards in the second half.

Ferch scored 15 points, Lewis 13 and Dexter Howard 12.