Dec. 10, 2005
SAN DIEGO -- Nick Lewis poured in 29 points for the second time this season and helped the Toreros to their sixth straight victory with tonight's 72-61 win over Fresno State (4-2) in the first game of the 2nd Annual San Diego Slam. Lewis was named the game's MVP following the victory which improved USD's season mark to 7-2. USD forward Corey Belser chipped in with 14 points and 10 rebounds in notching his 4th double-double this season. The Toreros will now be off until next Saturday when they host Texas-Arlington in a 4 pm contest at the Jenny Craig Pavilion.
"We talked as a team afterwards and I told our players that we didn't do great things on offense, we had a lot of turnovers, but yet we won this game because we defended and rebounded," said head coach Brad Holland. "Corey also did an outstanding job on (Ja'Vance) Coleman, their leading scorer. That set up everything. We outrebounded them and clearly that won the game for us."
USD got out to a quick start taking a 9-2 lead, but Fresno State battled back and took their first lead at 15-13 on a layup by Kevin Bell. The game would be tied on five occasions in the first half, the last at 21-all with 5:57 to go. USD would get three straight treys from Belser, Ross DeRogatis and Lewis and would build their lead back to 10 points at 34-24, but the Bulldogs would cut their halftime deficit to 5 points at 34-29.
In the 2nd half USD would edge ahead by 7 at 43-36 with 14:37 to go on a Nick Lewis jumper, but once again the Bulldogs would scratch their way back and take a 44-43 lead on two free throws by Dwight O'Neill. A Lewis layup would put USD back ahead for good and the Toreros would eventually build their advantage back up to 10 points at 61-51 with just under 4 minutes to go. The Toreros would control the game the rest of the way.
Although he was off his mark in shooting, junior guard Ross DeRogatis played a key role in the victory. He finished with 8 points, a career-best 7 rebounds, and 4 assists. Fresno State's Ja'Vance Coleman, averaging 19.6 ppg coming into tonight's contest, was held to just 6 points with Corey Belser smothering him all night long. Belser chipped in with 2 blocked shots and 2 steals. FSU was paced by Quinton Hosley with 18 points.
