Feb. 19, 2005

Box Score

PORTLAND - San Diego ran to a 20-point halftime lead and withstood a second half Portland surge to sweep the season series with an 89-73 victory Saturday night at the Chiles Center. Five Toreros (14-11, 6-6 WCC) reached double figures, led by 22 points from reserve forward Floyd North III as USD shot 52.4 percent from the field. With the win the Toreros own sole possession of 4th place in the WCC Standings with two league home games left against Santa Clara (Feb. 24) and Saint Mary's (Feb. 26).

"We knew that this was a very important game in regards to helping us gain a better position in the conference standings," said head coach Brad Holland. "It's nice to get our second league road win against a pretty good team that usually plays well at home, so I'm proud of what our team accomplished tonight."

Midway through the first half the Toreros held a 19-16 lead. From there Ross DeRogatis canned a trey to start a 25-3 Torero run. Following a Corey Belser free throw, Floyd North scored 9 straight team points for USD as the Toreros took a 47-27 intermission lead. North had 12 of his 22 points by intermission, and Brice Vounang scored 9 points and grabbed 9 boards in the first 20 minutes on his way to a 13 point/15 rebound outing. At the half USD had converted 52.8% of its shots and 55.6% of its three-pointers (5-9).

In the 2nd half the Toreros extended their lead to 23 (61-38) on a Nick Lewis layup, but then the Pilots ran off a 10-0 run to get within 61-48 with Darren Cooper and Marcus Lewis each chipping in 4 points. A three-point play and jumper by North put USD up by 17 and the Pilots would not get closer than 14 the rest of the way.

All in all five Toreros reached double digits. Following North's 22 points was Brandon Gay (19 points on 8-8 shooting), Nick Lewis (16), Brice Vounang (13 points, 15 rebounds) and Ross DeRogatis (13 points, 7 assists). For the game USD shot 52.4% from the field (33-63) and outrebounded the Pilots, 38-30. UP was paced by Darren Cooper's 21 points.