San Francisco uses big first half, beats San Diego 80-74

Dec 30, 2016, 12:15 am

SAN FRANCISCO -- Charles Minlend scored a career-high 20 points and San Francisco held on to beat San Diego 80-74 in a West Coast Conference opener on Thursday night.

Minlend had 14 points on 5-of-7 shooting in the first half as the Dons shot 74 percent from the field to build a 51-28 halftime lead. Ronnie Boyce had nine of his 11 points in the first half.

San Francisco (11-3, 1-0) held a double-digit lead until the Toreros cut the deficit to eight points with about three minutes remaining. San Diego (7-6, 0-1) pulled to 76-72 with 27 seconds left. Chase Foster, who scored nine points, made four free throws to seal it for the Dons.

Olin Carter III scored 16 of his 19 points in the second half and made four 3-pointers to lead San Diego (7-6, 0-1). Brett Bailey added 18 points.