Weber State University Athletics
Weber State University
San Francisco
Wildcats Hold Off the USF Dons 64-52 in Eddie Sutton's Coming Out Party
12/28/2007 7:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
OGDEN, Utah -- Eddie Sutton figures he'll get wins No. 799 and 800 soon enough. For now, though, the 71-year-old coach is happy to teach his new players the finer points of the game. Sutton returned to coaching Friday night, but rather than recording win No. 799, the 71-year-old settled for loss No. 316 as the Weber State Wildcats held off the San Francisco Dons 62-54 Friday night in the Dee Events Center
Sutton, who retired from Oklahoma State following the 2005-06 season, replaced Jessie Evans as San Francisco's basketball coach. On Wednesday night, the school announced that Evans was taking ``a leave of absence'' for the rest of the season. Sutton will lead the Dons (4-9) on an interim basis.
``I was excited and I really enjoyed it,'' said Sutton. ``I didn't enjoy the way the team was playing. I told the guys I'm not accustomed to losing games and getting behind that far.''
The Wildcats came out with a new look with DANNY JOHNSON (6-7, 215 Fr.) replacing STEVE PANOS at center; DAVIIN DAVIS (6-4, 205 Jr.) replacing JUAN PABLO SILVEIRA at forward and KELLEN McCOY (5-6, 175 Jr.) replacing DEZMON HARRIS at guard.
USF took a quick 12-8 lead in a sluggish shooting display by both teams in the first 11 minutes. But a three-pointer by SILVEIRA and back to back baskets by PANOS put the ?Cats up 15-14 with 5:54 left in the half. From there the Wildcats went on a 12-6 scoring run to take a 27-20 half time lead into the locker room. DAVIIN DAVIS scored 10 of his 12 points to lead the WSU first half charge while USF forward DIOR LOWHORN (6-7, 235 Soph.) had 14 of USF's 20 counters on 7-11 shooting from the floor.
The Wildcats came out in the second half and went on a quick 7-0 scoring run to take a 34-20 lead with 15:51 remaining. The ?Cats pushed the lead back up to 14 at the 8:30 mark on a slam dunk by STEVE PANOS to go up 47-33.
The Dons then started a barrage of three-pointers ignited by MANNY QUEZADA's deep trey with 7:46 left. That was the first of five three-pointers USF would make over the next six minutes closing to within three (49-46) with 4:42 left and to within three again ( 53-50) a the 1:13 mark. DANNY CAVIC was the Dons shooting hero in that stretch hitting three long bombs and making one of two free throws for 10 of his 15 points.
DEZMON HARRIS made two free throws with 47 seconds remaining giving the ?Cats a six-point cushion then made two more just 13 seconds later after a dunk by USF's HYMAN TAYLOR putting the Wildcats up again by six.
USF's last score came on a jumper by DIOR LOWHORN with 23 seconds left. Weber State then sealed the game on four straight made free throws by JUAN PABLO SILVEIRA and ARTURAS VALEIKA.
For head coach Randy Rahe is was all about effort, something he's been emphasizing the last couple of days."
"I can live with getting beat if we play hard, play smart and play together," said Rahe. "We adjusted the starting line up to give those who have been giving a full effort in practice a reward for those efforts and they played hard. I was pleased with efforts of those starters who came off the bench especially down the stretch."
The Wildcats had four players in double figures led by STEVE PANOS who connected on six of seven from the field scoring 13 points and grabbed four rebounds. DAVIIN DAVIS had 12, ARTURAS VALEIKA chipped in with 11 points and a game high eight rebounds. DEZMON HARRIS completedthe scoring straight with 10 points.
USF was led by DIOR LOWHORN's 19 points and eight rebounds. DANNY CAVIC had 15 and MANNY QUEZADA, 12. The Dons fall to 4-9 overall this season while the Wildcats improve to 5-7.
With the non-conference portion of the schedule completed, the Wildcatsnow turn there focus to league play where the come in as the defending Big Sky Conference champion regular season and post-season tournament champions. The ?Cats open up Big Sky play on Sunday, January 6 in a 2:05 tipoff at Northern Colorado on Altitude TV. WSU's next home game comes on Thursday, January 10 and Saturday January 12 hosting Portland State and Eastern Washington. Both of those games are 7:05 tipoffs.
