March 9, 2003

San Diego, Calif. - With the win the Toreros will take on No. 1 seed Gonzaga (23-7) in tomorrow's 9:00 p.m. ESPN championship contest with the winner earning the WCC's automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament. Gonzaga won tonight's second semi with a 73-52 victory over No. 5 seed Saint Mary's. Senior team captain Matt Delzell (Plano, TX) came up big for the Toreros this evening with a season-best 20 point performance. He canned all five of his three-point attempts, and finished 6-for-7 from the field overall. USD's senior Jasons: 6-10 center Jason Keep and 6-7 forward Jason Blair once again put on an outstanding effort this evening. Keep tallied 19 points and grabbed a game-high 15 rebounds; Blair tossed in 16 points and added 11 caroms.

USD took a commanding 41-24 halftime lead behind the play of Keep (13 points/9 rebounds) and Blair (10 points/7 rebounds). Early in the second half USD extended its lead to 19 points at 43-24, but the Dons stormed back to make a game of it. Over the next 7 minutes USF went on a 16-1 run to get within four points at 44-40 with 12:46 to go.

A Jason Blair jumper at the 6:05 mark put USD ahead by 10 points (56-46), but USF got within four points again 3 1/2 minutes later after back-to-back treys by Darrell Tucker and Shamell Stallworth. USD then went on a 10-0 run over the next two minutes with a Delzell three; a Keep dunk; a Delzell jumper and two free throws; and a Keep charity. From there USD would close the doors on the USF Dons. The win was USD's third straight over San Francisco this season.

The Toreros reach the WCC Tourney final for the first time under head coach Brad Holland. The past three years they were eliminated in the semis by Gonzaga. The last time USD appeared in the final was 1994 when they dropped a 56-53 decision to Pepperdine; that was also an ESPN telecast. The game is a sellout, however, there will be some standing-room-only tickets available for purchase.