McCarthy scores 17, San Francisco holds off E Washington (Dec 07, 2017)

By AP
Published

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) Matt McCarthy scored a career-high 17 points, Souley Boum added 16 and San Francisco dominated the first half and held off Eastern Washington for an 81-71 win on Thursday night.

McCarthy tied his career high of 12 points in the first half on 5-of-7 shooting as the Dons (5-3) took a 45-24 lead. San Francisco wasn't lighting it up, shooting 44 percent, but was 8 of 16 from 3-point range and the Eagles (3-6) were shooting just 25 percent, 1 of 7 from distance.

The Dons scored the first 11 points of the game, and made their first six shots with McCarthy making the last four after Jordan Ratinho and Jamaree Bouyea opened with 3-pointers.

Eastern Washington had a 16-6 run that cut the deficit to 11 midway through the second half. After the Dons reeled off seven straight, Bogdan Bliznyuk had nine points in a 12-0 run that brought the Eagles within 66-60 with five minutes left.

Eastern Washington couldn't get any closer and Boum made 8 of 8 free throws in the final minute.

Bliznyuk finished with a season-high 31 points, his seventh career game with at least 30.