In another close contest, the Seattle University men's basketball team had its chances to pull out a victory in front of its home crowd, but the University of San Francisco held on for a 69-63 win Saturday afternoon at KeyArena at Seattle Center.
Aaron Broussard (Federal Way, Wash.) led all players with 19 points on 7-of-11 shooting from the field, including 3-of-4 from behind the three-point line, and 2-of-3 shooting from the free throw line. He has collected 999 career points so far, needing one more point to become the 35th player in program history to reach the 1,000-point mark.
The first half went back-and-forth until San Francisco scored nine unanswered points over a six-minute span, punctuated by a three-pointer from Michael Williams. Seattle U responded with eight straight points in the final 2:37 of the first half, thanks to consecutive three-pointers by Broussard and a layup from Louis Green (Westchester, Ill.).
Consecutive layups by Broussard and Eric Wallace (Winston-Salem, N.C.) gave the Redhawks a 31-29 lead three minutes into the second half, but a three-pointer by Rashad Green and six points from Dominique O'Connor allowed the Dons to retake the lead, 38-35. O'Connor answered a Broussard three-pointer with one of his own, and Angelo Caloiaro scored five straight points later in the second half to give USF a 50-44 advantage with less than seven minutes remaining.
Down by eight with four minutes left, the Redhawks fought back thanks to a three-pointer by Sterling Carter (Seattle, Wash.) and a layup from Prince Obasi (Reseda, Calif.). A Broussard layup and two free throws from Clarence Trent (Tacoma, Wash.) pulled Seattle U to within one at 62-61 with 37 seconds left in regulation, but the Dons went 5-for-6 from the free throw line in the final stretch, and the Redhawks missed four of their final five shots to fall short.
"We knew USF was a good team, bringing some key players back, but we were able to compete with them, play them to a standstill in the first half," Seattle U head coach Cameron Dollar said. "We had some lapses in the second half, and they made some shots while we didn't. They did a good job of keeping us off the boards, and if we are going to miss shots, we need to be better at grabbing those rebounds."
Trent finished with 12 points, six rebounds, four blocked shots, and two steals, while Wallace posted nine points and seven rebounds for the second consecutive game. As a team, Seattle U shot only 39.3 percent (24-of-61) from the field, including 7-of-25 from behind the three-point line, and 8-of-10 from the free throw line.
San Francisco (4-1) saw four players score in double figures, led by Williams with 15 points. Caloiaro contributed 12 points and a game-high eight rebounds, Perris Blackwell also scored 12 points, and O'Connor added 10 points to the winning effort. The Dons shot 47.2 percent (25-of-53) from the field, including 8-of-18 from behind the three-point line, and 11-of-15 from the free throw line, plus they won the rebounding battle, 40-29.
Seattle University (0-2) travels to Bozeman, Mont., for a contest against Montana State Tuesday, Nov. 22, beginning at 7:00 p.m. local time (6:00 p.m. Pacific Time). Gary Hill will provide the play-by-play on 710 ESPN Seattle, which will broadcast the game on a tape-delay basis starting at 7 p.m.