Dior Lowhorn swears that when he's out shooting 3-pointers after
practice, he routinely knocks down 50 of 70. As for why he's been
so inconsistent from long range this season, he says that's all
psychological.
His terrific performance against the West Coast Conference's
top team ought to do him some good.
Lowhorn hit consecutive 3s in overtime on the way to 22
points, and San Francisco pulled off an 81-77 upset of No. 13
Gonzaga on Saturday night.
"Oh, man, that's the biggest win since anybody's been here,"
Lowhorn said.
Matt Bouldin scored Gonzaga's only three baskets in the extra
session and the Bulldogs (17-4, 6-1 West Coast Conference) lost for
the first time in 28 regular-season WCC games.
Angelo Caloiaro made a 3 with 32.8 seconds left that helped
the Dons end a nine-game skid in the series.
Many in the raucous, near-capacity crowd of 4,114 at Memorial
Gym rushed from the stands as time expired. Fans and USF players
danced on the court for several minutes in a wild celebration until
police and security put an end to the frenzy.
"As a coach, no question this is as good a feeling as I've
felt," second-year USF coach Rex Walters said. "Everybody is going
to look at this game and say this will be the highlight of our
season. I said to the guys, 'Let's work hard so it isn't.'"
Lowhorn went 5 of 7 on 3-pointers after coming in 8 for 47
from long range this season, sending the Dons (8-14, 3-4) to their
first win over Gonzaga since a 73-70 victory over the then-No. 11
Zags on Jan. 20, 2005. He pumped his fist and cheered when he hit
big shots.
"We came together. We wear our emotions on our sleeves,"
Lowhorn said. "We celebrated. You always want to beat the No. 1
team in your conference. The only team people think about is
Gonzaga."
Lowhorn hit a tying 3-pointer with 9.8 seconds left in
regulation after a miss moments earlier and Steven Gray missed a 3
on the other end. Kwame Vaughn's 70-foot prayer for USF bounced out
off the backboard and rim at the buzzer.
Rashad Green, moved into the starting lineup by Walters to
shake things up, scored 15 points and Caloiaro had 11 with three
3s. USF ended a three-game losing streak.
Gray missed two free throws in OT for the Zags after making
two with 25.3 seconds left in regulation.
"We've been putting ourselves in that situation it seems like
just about every game," Gray said. "We're not playing with the
energy that we need and it finally caught up to us. Hopefully it
will be a wake-up call."
Bouldin finished with 15 points, standout Zags freshman Elias
Harris scored 21 and Robert Sacre had 19.
Gonzaga had won nine straight overall and 22 in a row against
league opponents. The Zags had to rally from 14 points down in the
second half of their 71-64 win at Santa Clara on Thursday night and
then faced another tough one on the Hilltop.
"We've been playing with fire a little bit," coach Mark Few
said. "Everybody's been playing us tough and we've been able to
make a lot of plays at the end of games. This time USF made some
big plays."
The teams traded clutch shots down the stretch in regulation.
After Lowhorn and Dontae Bryant knocked down back-to-back
3-pointers to give USF a 60-57 lead with 4:41 to play, Bouldin
swished a 3 from the right wing moments later.
Lowhorn, the WCC's leading scorer the last two seasons, tied
it at 48 with his driving baseline scoop shot with 10:22 to go.
Caloiaro put USF ahead the next time down with a 3-pointer.
Lowhorn overcame early foul trouble. He was whistled for his
third foul with 2:28 left in the first half and took a seat.
"Dior played big-time," Bryant said. "We'd been waiting for a
breakout game from him."
After Demetri Goodson's 3-pointer with 17:03 left gave
Gonzaga its biggest lead at 42-32, USF answered with a 9-0 run to
get right back in it. Caloiaro knocked down a 3 at 14:56 to make it
42-41 and Gonzaga went 3:15 without scoring.
The Bulldogs conclude the conference season with five of
their final seven games at home in Spokane, Wash. They are picked
to win their 10th straight WCC regular-season crown.
"Nothing's sacred," Few said. "We've just got to get back to
playing the best we can at what we do best, and we've kind of
gotten away from that a little bit."
After Gonzaga hosts Portland on Thursday, the Zags hit the
road for a key non-conference game at Memphis next Saturday.
The Dons were outrebounded for only the fourth time in their
last 16 games, 39-34.
Both teams were clicking offensively early before cooling off
late in the first half. Gonzaga shot 48.4 percent on the way to a
33-26 lead at the break. While the Zags led by as many as nine,
there were four ties and five lead changes in the opening 20
minutes.
