March 20, 2003
Spokane, Wash. - With the loss USD ends their season with a record of 18-12; the Cardinal improve to 24-8 and will take on UCONN on Saturday in second round action. The Toreros, making their first NCAA appearance in 16 years, got off to another slow start in falling behind 9-0 and 16-2 to start the game. However, like their WCC Tournament championship win over Gonzaga in which they overcame a 15-3 deficit to earn a 72-63 victory, the Toreros battled back and got back in the game and found themselves down just 35-32 at halftime.
USD's Jasons got USD back in the game with Jason Blair totaling 13 first half points and Jason Keep with 12 points. A key run in the first half saw the Toreros down 29-10 with 9:09 to go, but Blair scored 6 straight and Keep the next 5 to get the Toreros within 29-21 with 6:56 to go.
In the second half USD fell behind by 9 points, but battled and stayed within striking distance. With Jason Keep picking up two quick fouls early in the 2nd half that sent him to the bench with 3, freshman forward Nick Lewis sparked USD by making 8-10 free throws. A Mike McGrain free throw tied the score at 61-all with 5:55 to go, and McGrain's second free throw that missed was grabbed by Corey Belser who was fouled while being pushed out-of-bounds. Belser made 1 of 2 to give the Toreros their first lead at 62-61.
A Roy Morris jumper put USD up 66-63 with 3:41 to go, and with just under 3 minutes to go, Keep missed a put-back in close that would have increased the lead to 5 points. From there Stanford made their shots and free throws, while USD couldn't convert their attempts as the Cardinal closed the game on a 14-3 run.
USD got a big game from senior forward Jason Blair who finished with 27 points on 9-for-20 shooting. Keep was the only other Torero to reach double-digits with 12 points, but he was unable to score in the 2nd half. Stanford was paced by Josh Childress who led four players in double digits with 22 points.
Stated head coach Brad Holland, "We got off to our typical slow start and put ourselves in a hole, but we worked our way out of it. We went into halftime trailing by three and by that time we felt we belonged in the tournament. For the most part of that second half, we played very, very strong."
Added Holland, "I'm really proud of these seniors and how they let San Diego do somethingit hadn't done in a while and that's win a conference championship and go to the NCAAs. On top of that, give us a chance to advance in the tournament."
