West Coast Conference Tournament Recaps

Las Vegas, NV (SportsNetwork.com) – Kruize Pinkins scored 14 points and pulled down seven rebounds as the eighth-seeded San Francisco Dons outlasted the ninth-seeded Pacific Tigers, 62-58, in the first round of the West Coast Conference Tournament at Orleans Arena.

Tim Derksen also chipped in with 14 points for San Francisco (14-17), which advances to the quarterfinal round of the tournament Saturday to face top- seeded Gonzaga. Devin Watson added 13 points with six assists, Mark Tollefsen contributed 10 and Matt Glover grabbed a team-high 10 boards in the win.

T.J. Wallace netted 14 points with six rebounds and four assists to lead Pacific (12-19), which concluded its season on a two-game losing streak. David Taylor collected 13 points, and Eric Thompson nabbed eight rebounds in the defeat.

Both San Francisco and Pacific connected on 9-of-26 shooting in the opening period (34.6 percent) as the two teams went into halftime knotted up at 28-28. Pacific held the edge from 3-point range (six made attempts to four), but San Francisco made up the difference at the free-throw line (six makes to four).

The Dons came out hot in the second half, netting 47.4 percent of their attempts from the field with a 13-of-22 mark from the free-throw line. The Tigers fell to 27.3 percent shooting in the frame, and fell behind by as many as eight points with over five minutes to play. Pacific made a run late in the contest to cut the San Francisco lead to two, 60-58, with 23 seconds to play, but the Dons were able to hold on for the victory.

San Francisco outscored Pacific from the charity stripe, 19-13, with a pair of clutch free throws from Derksen in the closing seconds to seal the victory.

Final Score: Santa Clara 85, Loyola-Marymount 54

Las Vegas, NV (SportsNetwork.com) – Brandon Clark netted 19 points, grabbed five rebounds and dished out five assists to lead his seventh-seeded Santa Clara Broncos to a thundering 85-54 victory over the 10th-seeded Loyola- Marymount Lions in the opening round of the West Coast Conference Tournament at Orleans Arena.

Jared Brownridge also tallied 19 points for Santa Clara (14-17), which moves on to face second-seeded BYU in the quarterfinal round of the tournament Saturday. Jarvis Pugh chipped in with 12 points, seven rebounds and six assists in the win.

Evan Payne scored a game-high 29 points and added nine rebounds to pace Loyola-Marymount (8-23), which lost its seventh consecutive game to end the season. Ayodeji Egbeyemi contributed 14 points in the lopsided defeat.

Santa Clara jumped out to an immediate lead and never looked back, connecting on 48.3 percent of its first-half field goal tries to take a 36-22 lead into the intermission. LMU shot just 23.3 percent from the floor in the frame, with a 1-of-7 mark from 3-point distance.

The Broncos improved to 63.3 percent shooting in the second period, and added a 5-of-8 mark from 3-point range. The Lions also improved to shoot 52.4 percent from the field, but continued to fall behind after going 3-of-7 from beyond the arc. Santa Clara took its largest lead at 31 points with 20 seconds left, and ended the game with that margin.

The Broncos held a 36-18 advantage in points in the paint, and outscored the Lions in points off turnovers, 19-6, in the huge win.

Categorized in: NCAA Basketball