Feb. 20, 2006
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Travis Niesen scored 31 points and collected nine rebounds for Santa Clara, which posted its third road win by defeating San Francisco 83-78 on Monday night.
Domineek Daniel added a career-high 17 points for the Broncos (10-15, 3-9 West Coast Conference), who ended a three-game losing skid. Santa Clara has won three of the last five meetings in the series against USF.
Freshman Drew Shiller scored a career-high 23 points for the Dons. USF (10-15, 6-6) has not won or lost more than two consecutive games all season.
Santa Clara allowed USF to tie the game on three different occasions, but the Broncos never trailed. A basket from Domineek Daniel from beyond the arc, a layup by Niesen and four free throws from Mitch Henke put the Broncos up by nine points with just over a minute remaining.
Vince Polakovic and Danny Cavic scored 3-pointers to cut USF's deficit to three, and a three-point play by Armondo Surratt narrowed Santa Clara's lead to 77-76 with 31 seconds to go in regulation.
Santa Clara made its free throws in the closing moments and outscored San Francisco 6-2 for the final margin of victory.
The Broncos dominated the first half, shooting 55 percent and 4-of-6 from 3-point range. The Dons used a 12-2 run to catch up, but Santa Clara stayed ahead 40-31 at the break.
Santa Clara widened the margin using a 10-3 spurt to lead 56-44 midway through the second half. The Dons responded by holding the Broncos scoreless for over three minutes on a 12-0 run, including six points by Wallace-Carter.
A jumper by Alan Wiggins Jr. tied the contest at with 3:55 to play.
