Dons break away after halftime break
After a first half in which USF couldn’t shake a one-win Eastern Washington team, the Dons scored the first 11 points after the intermission.
That burst gave the Dons a 17-point lead. The Eagles got no closer than 12 the rest of the way as USF improved to 9-1 with an 85-63 victory on the Hilltop on Thursday night.
It’s the Dons’ best start since they were 12-1 in the 1999-2000 season.
“We got a little cushion there,” USF head coach Kyle Smith said about the Dons’ start to the second half, “and played like a team that felt like (it’s) supposed to win.
On USF’s first possession of the second half, Frankie Ferrari found Charles Minlend for a three-pointer from the left side.
On the ensuing possession, Nate Renfro stole the ball from Jacob Davison and converted the turnover into a slam.
USF center Jimbo Lull scored the next three baskets, on a tip-in, a hook shot and a layup off a feed from Ferrari.
Barely two minutes into the second half, what had been a tight game became lopsided.
Typically, USF’s scoring was balanced. Ferrari had a game-high 15 points (and a game-high six assists). Minlend had 14 points, Renfro 12, and Jordan Ratinho and Remu Raitanen each had 11.
Jesse Hunt led the Eagles (1-7) with 14 points.
A rare six-point possession gave the Dons a boost early in the first half. Ferrari buried a three-pointer from the left side as Davison committed a foul away from the ball.
That meant USF got the three points and kept possession. Moments later, Ferrari knocked down another three from nearly the same spot.
That’s six points — by one player — on one possession.
Another three by Ferrari with a little more than five minutes remaining in the half somewhat backfired on the Dons. He took the shot near the Eagles’ bench and was hit with a technical foul for trash talking.
“Someone said something from the bench,” Ferrari said, “and I responded the wrong way. It happens.”
Smith clearly appreciates Ferrari’s passion for the game, but the head coach wants his point guard “to reel it in a little bit, but that’s just not who he is. He’s going to enjoy this.”
In the second half of a win at Cal on Dec. 5, Ferrari enjoyed some popcorn that he took from a fan’s box along the baseline. The video of that moment went viral, and as a tribute, USF gave all of the 1,439 fans Thursday night a voucher for a box of popcorn.
“I hope they enjoyed it,” Ferrari said near the end of his postgame interview. “I’ve got to go get me some now.”