Dec. 13, 2004
Box Score
(San Diego, CA) - The USD men's basketball team (4-5) began their 3-game homestand in fine fashion with a 75-56 win over the visiting Eastern Washington Eagles (2-5). The Toreros turned in a solid defensive effort and were led in scoring by Nick Lewis and Brandon Gay, each with 19 points. With just under 4 minutes left the Toreros held a comfortable 65-43 edge when coach Holland starting sending in the reserves. The win improved USD's home mark to 3-1 this season.
Eastern Washington jumped out to a 9-2 lead before the Toreros got themselves untracked, both offensively and defensively. By halftime USD held a 34-26 advantage, and in the 2nd period immediately jumped out to a 15 point lead at 41-26. In the final 10 minutes of play the closest EWU would get is 17 points (71-54) with 1:37 to go.
With senior guard Brett Melton sitting out with a sprained ankle (suffered in practice over the weekend), Nick Lewis earned his first start of the season, with Corey Belser moving over to the No. 2 guard slot. Belser did a tremendous job in shutting down their leading scorer, Marc Axton. Axton came in averaging 19 points, and Belser limited him to just 8 shots and 15 points.
USD leading scorer Brice Vounang played just 2 minutes in the 1st half after picking up two quick fouls. He would come back to toss in 10 points in the 2nd period. For the game the Toreros shot 52.6% from the field (30-57) and a solid 90.9% from the free throw line (10-11). USD also held the rebounding edge, 32-20.
The Toreros return to the Jenny Craig Pavilion on Saturday to take on Northern Arizona in a 4:05 p.m. tipoff.
