Santa Clara 87, San Francisco 55

2/26/2008 12:31 AM

SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) -Freshman Ben Dowdell scored a team-high 21 points to lead Santa Clara to an 87-55 rout of San Francisco on Monday night.

John Bryant added 15 points for Santa Clara (14-13, 6-6 West Coast Conference) and became the 27th player in Bronco history to surpass 1,000 career points.

Dior Lowhorn had 22 points to lead the Dons (7-20, 3-9 WCC), who also got 11 points from Manny Quezada and 10 from Myron Strong.

With San Francisco trailing 48-20 at halftime, Danny Cavic scored a fast-break layup with 7:45 left in the second half to cut Santa Clara's lead to 21 points, but that was as close as the Dons got.

Dowdell, a native of North Nowra, Australia, was 6-8 from the field in the first half as Santa Clara roared out to an early lead.

The Broncos started four seniors who were playing in their final home game and got immediate production from the group. Josh Higgins scored five points in the opening minutes before being replaced by Bryant, who took advantage of the smaller Dons, scoring eight quick points in the paint.

The Broncos were 20-29 from the field in the first half, including six of 11 on 3-point attempts.

The Dons, meanwhile, struggled to hold onto the ball. They committed 12 turnovers in the first half and connected on only eight of 24 shots in the period.