Jan. 22, 2004

Box Score

(San Francisco, CA) - USF's Jovan Harris scored a USF career high 18 points to pace the University of San Francisco to a 78-68 win over San Diego in a West Coast Conference matchup at USF Thursday night. The Dons, who dropped their first three conference games, all on the road, improved to a perfect 7-0 at home this year. USF got off to a slow start and trailed by as many as 13 points with 8:23 remaining in the half, but put on the press and outscored the Toreros (3-15, 0-3) 21-7 before halftime to take a 36-35 halftime lead.

The Dons, who host Santa Clara Saturday night, continued to pour it on by outscoring San Diego 18-6 over the first 6 1/2 minutes of the second half to take a 54-41 lead and were never threatened after that. USF took advantage of a press to take control, scoring 29 points on 24 San Diego turnovers. Harris, who started for just seventh time this year was on fire on offense, hitting 7 of 11 from the floor, while teammate Tyrone Riley added 15 points and nine rebounds.

San Diego was paced by 22 points by Brice Vounang and 18 by Brandon Gay. The Toreros shot 58.5% for the game from the field, but had 24 less attempts. USD's 24 turnovers was the main reason for the significant difference in shot attempts. The Toreros trailed by just one point at halftime behind Vounang's 14 points.

The Toreros play at Saint Mary's Saturday night in Moraga - the Gaels beat Santa Clara by 30 points and improved to 2-1 in league play.