Pilots give Dons fits before falling in OT

Frankie Ferrari scored 20 points, Charles Minlend made two 3-pointers in overtime and USF beat host Portland 68-63 on Saturday night for its third straight win.

Minlend’s 3-pointers were part of the Dons’ 10-5 run to open the extra period. Marcus Shaver Jr. scored Portland’s next five points to pull the Pilots to 65-63 with 45 seconds left. Ferrari hit a pull-up 3 on the next possession with 18 seconds to play, and then the Pilots missed their last three shots.

JoJo Walker made two free throws to tie it for Portland at 53 with 28 seconds left in regulation. Ferrari missed a 3-point attempt at the buzzer, sending the game to overtime.

Minlend finished with 15 points and Jimbo Lull added 14 for USF (20-6, 8-4 WCC).

Shaver had 15 points and eight rebounds for Pilots (7-20, 0-12), who have lost 15 of their past 16 games.

St. Mary’s 72, Pepperdine 65: Malik Fitts had 25 points as the Gaels (17-10, 8-4 WCC) beat the Waves (12-15, 5-8) to extend their home winning streak to eight games. Jordan Ford added 20 points for St. Mary’s. Fitts hit 5 of 7 threepoint attempts and added seven rebounds. Ford also had six rebounds for the Gaels. Tommy Kuhse had 12 points and Tanner Krebs added 10. The Pepperdine totaled 20 first-half points, a season low. Colbey Ross had 22 points for the Waves. Jade’ Smith added 13 points and Kessler Edwards had 12 points and nine rebounds.

Santa Clara 64, Pacific 59: Tahj Eaddy hit three of four free throws in the final half minute and the host Broncos (14-13, 6-7 WCC) withstood a second-half rally by the Tigers (13-14, 3-9). Josip Vrankic scored 18 points to pace Santa Clara. Khy Kabellis had 13 points for Pacific. Pacific, which trailed 41-21 at halftime, got within three points twice in the final 1:19.

UNLV 71, San Jose State 64: Joel Ntambwe scored 20 points to lead four Rebels in double figures and UNLV (14-11, 8-5 Mountain West) overcame a six-point secondhalf deficit to hand the host Spartans (3-21, 0-12) their 15th consecutive loss. Michael Steadman scored 16 points for San Jose State.

WOMEN

Gaels top Dons

St. Mary’s scored the first eight points and was never headed as the Gaels defeated USF 88-63 in Moraga.

St. Mary’s (18-8, 11-4 WCC), which beat the Dons by 15 in the teams’ first meeting last month, got 20 points from Sydney Raggio and 15 from Jasmine Forcadilla.

The Gaels led by 13 after the first quarter.

“I thought we were pretty consistent today on both ends of the floor,” St. Mary’s head coach Paul Thomas said. “Sydney got us going and did a great job of providing us a strong presence in the paint.”

USF (6-19, 2-12) was paced by Shannon Powell’s 16 points.

Santa Clara 88, Pacific 83: Ashlyn Herlihy had 22 points and 10 rebounds and Tia Hay added 21 points as the visiting Broncos (11-14, 4-10 WCC) topped the Tigers (15-9, 8-6). Santa Clara, which had lost