SAN FRANCISCO – Devin Watson posted a game-high 24 points and Tim Derksen tallied a double-double (21 points/13 rebounds) to lead a balanced scoring attack for San Francisco, which outlasted the Santa Clara men's basketball team, 89-86, in overtime in Saturday night West Coast Conference.
KJ Feagin scored a team-high 23 points for the Broncos who clawed back from 17 points down in the second half to send the game into overtime.
Ronnie Boyce scored 22 points and Uche Ofoegbu also had a double-double for the Dons (13-10, 6-6) with 12 points and 11 rebounds.
Matt Hubbard, who scored a career-high 16 points off the bench, gave the Broncos (8-16, 4-8) their first lead since late in the first half when his 3-point play with 3:41 left in overtime made it 81-80.
Leading scorer Jared Brownridge struggled to find his rhythm, but after he increased Santa Clara's lead to 3 with a bucket in the lane, the Dons scored the next five points, all from the free-throw line, while the Broncos committed two of their 17 turnovers.
Santa Clara's Kai Healy was only able to hit 1 of 2 from the free-throw line with 1:39 left and Boyce converted a tough runner, giving the Dons an 87-84 lead.
With 5.4 seconds left and trailing 89-86, the Broncos' Matt Hauser was fouled on an inbounds play. He missed the first free throw then intentionally missed the second.
Emmanuel Ndumanya, who had career highs in both points (9) and rebounds (12), corralled the missed shot and fed Feagin outside the 3-point line, but his attempt was blocked by Ofoegbu just before time expired, sending USF to its fourth victory in the last five games.
"We executed the missed free throw and Emmanuel got the ball to KJ to give ourselves a chance," Santa Clara head coach Kerry Keating said.
Santa Clara needed three buckets in the last 36 seconds of regulation to send the game to an extra session.
Matt McCarthy's two free throws with 46 seconds left made it 78-72, but Healy scored in transition and Feagin nailed a jumper before Brendyn Taylor tied the game on a layup with 27 seconds left.
Watson ran the clock down and missed badly on a fadeaway 3-pointer as time expired.
"I'm proud of our guys for battling back," Keating said. "But we put ourselves in the hole early. We had too many turnovers in the first half. We set a tone that led to 21 offensive rebounds [in the game] from them."
Brownridge had 18 points, but was only 5-for-15 from the floor, including 0 of 6 from behind the 3-point line. He was 8 of 9 at the free-throw line. Nate Kratch was held to four points, but had eight rebounds.
"We didn't get the greatest of nights from Jared and Nate respectively, but they did what they had to do," Keating said. "Jared wasn't able to get the 3 going but was able to get to the free-throw line."
The Broncos led by as many as eight points in the first half, but the Dons put on a furious rally in the closing minutes, scoring 15 of the last 18 points of the period, including the last 11.
Derksen's layup with 3:16 left snapped a 30-all tie and Boyce scored eight points in the last 3 minutes, helping the Dons build a 45-33 halftime lead.
Led by Kratch, Hubbard and Brownridge, the Broncos slowing chipped away in the second half. Hubbard's layup with 12:52 left in regulation, cut the deficit to 63-54 and started an 8-0 run.
Taylor and Feagin followed with 3-pointers, but Santa Clara couldn't get closer than three until the final minute of regulation.
The Broncos went small late in the second half, playing one forward and four guards to combat USF's quick lineup.
The 6-foot-9 Hubbard was joined on the floor by Brownridge, Feagin, Healy and Taylor when the Broncos made their final push at the end of regulation.
"Matt's been playing better so we need to continue that with six games left to play," Keating said.
Santa Clara is home next week for a pair of games. The Broncos face San Diego Thursday (7 p.m.) and BYU Saturday (1 p.m.).
Notes: The Broncos suffered their seventh loss of the season by three points or less, with of them coming in overtime … with 18 points, Jared Brownridge (1,554) moved from 14th to 13th on the school's career scoring list, passing Brandon Clark (1,549/2011-15) … Feagin had four assists tonight to give him 96 on the season. He needs one more to move from fourth to third on the school's all-time freshman list. Robert Smith had 97 in 2009-10 … Kai Healy had a career-high 10 rebounds … Emmanuel Ndumanya had eight of his career-high 12 rebounds in the opening five minutes of the game. Eight of rebounds came at the offensive end.
The USF Series: The series began in 1908 and the Broncos hold a 112-106 lead, though the Dons have captured five of the last six overall and five of the last six at home. The series has been even in recent years, with San Francisco holding an 11-9 edge during head coach Kerry Keating's nine-year tenure.
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