March 3, 2008

Complete 2008 WCC Tournament Bracket in PDF Format

Final Stats

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Eddie Sutton's stay at San Francisco is nearly over and it certainly appears he's made progress with his team. His two seniors sent him out the right way at home on the Hilltop.

Only once in his career has Sutton lost on a Senior Day, and the Dons' interim coach made a point of telling his players that statistic.

Vince Polakovic scored a career-high 24 points and Danny Cavic had 17 points and eight rebounds in the Dons' 88-63 victory over Pepperdine on Monday night in Sutton's final game at Memorial Gym.

"It's been fun because a lot of these guys have gotten better, the team's gotten better," Sutton said after his 803rd career win. "We're a lot better than we were when I got here two months ago."

Dior Lowhorn added 22 points on 10-of-14 shooting to go with 12 rebounds and Manny Quezada had six assists for San Francisco (9-20, 5-9) in its last regular-season game before this weekend's West Coast Conference tournament in San Diego.

"It's a fantastic feeling," Cavic said. "I'm definitely happy for myself and Vince. It's great to win the last one at home. This is what we needed to get a little momentum going into the tournament."

The Dons are the fifth seed and will open against No. 8 Loyola Marymount on Friday, while the sixth-seeded Waves (10-20, 4-10) will face No. 7 Portland on Friday.

Sutton (803-327) - who won his 800th game at Pepperdine on Feb. 2 - led his team to its third victory in four games and first two-game winning streak since he's been in charge. Polakovic shot 10-for-16 and Cavic made four 3-pointers.

"When you win two in a row, you get selfish and want to win some more," Sutton said. "I'm just happy these two guys went out on a winning note."

Sutton became interim coach Dec. 26 when Jessie Evans took a leave of absence.

Tyrone Shelley scored 28 points and hit four 3s fir the Waves, who are also working with an interim head coach as Eric Bridgeland stepped in after Vance Walberg resigned on Jan. 18 for personal reasons. Pepperdine has said former coach Tom Asbury will return next season.

Mike Hornbuckle had 15 points with three 3-pointers and six rebounds, but Pepperdine committed 18 turnovers in losing for the third time in four games.

Before the game, Sutton walked to midcourt to shake hands with lone Pepperdine senior Tyler Carr before the Dons honored their two seniors: Cavic and Polakovic. Early on, he leaned back in his chair with legs crossed before suddenly hopping up to let an official have it. He's still plenty animated and red-faced at times as he heads toward his 72nd birthday next week.

The Dons made eight of their first 13 shots, used a 13-3 run in the first half to grab momentum and came out with the kind of energy and hustle Sutton has been preaching to his players from Day 1. The kind of play he hopes this group can continue once he's long gone.

USF led 51-32 at halftime after shooting 53.3 percent to 41.4 for the Waves. It was the Dons' biggest halftime lead in conference play and their most points in a first half this season.

USF opens tournament play against Loyola Marymount Friday, March 7 in a 6:00 PM game at the Jenny Craig Pavilion. The winner will take on No. 4 seed Santa Clara at 6:00 PM Saturday, March 8.