With overtime win, Dons reach semis
LAS VEGAS — USF outshot and outrebounded Pacific, but Kyle Smith divulged the secret thing that really led to the Dons’ 71-70 overtime victory in the quarterfinals of the WCC tournament Saturday afternoon at Orleans Arena.
“We’ve got a really nice hotel, which was motivation,” the USF head coach joked. “Guys wanted to stay until at least Monday.”
Well, the Dons (18-14) will get to keep their rooms at the Aria, having found a way to win a game that they led for only 11 minutes, and never led by more than five points. They advanced to Monday’s semifinals against top-seeded Gonzaga, which defeated Loyola Marymount 83-69.
Fifth-seeded USF scored the first basket in overtime — a three-pointer from Jordan Ratinho — and did not trail in the period. After Miles Reynolds made a runner to trim Pacific’s deficit to one, the Dons scored four straight points.
The teams traded empty possessions before Jahlil Tripp’s free throws cut USF’s lead to 71-68 with 90 seconds left. Tripp scored an almost uncontested layup 30 seconds later to make it 71-70.
Frankie Ferrari’s shotclock-beating jumper was blocked by Anthony Townes, and Pacific called a timeout with 27.8 seconds remaining. Remu Raitanen grabbed the rebound off Jack Williams’ errant jumper with 1.7 seconds on the clock, and Pacific was forced to foul Ratinho.
The sophomore guard missed the front end of the one-and-one, but Reynolds’ desperation heave from threequarters court fell short to clinch a victory that USF appeared to have already clinched once.
About 20 minutes after the victory, Smith’s comment on the game was, “Whew.”
Ferrari waited until about 10 seconds remained in regulation before swooping from the left wing to just off the right elbow. He rose up and made a jumper to give USF a 64-62 lead with 6.1 seconds remaining.
After a timeout, Tripp raced the length of the court and missed a game-tying layup. Townes made a putback, despite being heavily contested, to tie it 64-64 just ahead of the buzzer.
USF got 20 points from Ratinho, 17 points and eight assists from Ferrari and 14 points and six rebounds from Matt McCarthy. The Tigers (14-18) were led by Reynolds, who had 20 points. Tripp went for 16 points and 11 rebounds, Williams added 15 points and seven rebounds and Townes had 12 points and six rebounds.
After the final buzzer, the USF players gathered in the corner of the arena and applauded their fans.
“We were just showing appreciation for them coming out and supporting us,” Ratinho said. “A lot of them come to a lot of games, and we needed that atmosphere down the stretch.”
Gonzaga 83, Loyola Marymount 69: Killian Tillie scored six of his team-high 24 points during a gamedefining, 17-4 run late in the second half for the top-seeded Bulldogs. Until fewer than seven minutes remained, Loyola Marymount (11-20) was still within five points, but Tillie and Zach Norvell Jr. (17 points) combined to help Gonzaga (28-4) pull away. The duo finished the game 9for-11 from three-point range to fend off the Lions, who got 27 points from James Batemon.