Feb. 6, 2006
Box Score
(San Diego, Calif.) - With a share of 2nd place in the WCC standings on the line tonight at the Jenny Craig Pavilion, the host Toreros were not up to the task as the visiting Loyola Marymount Lions dealt the Toreros their worst loss of the year, 94-76. San Diego falls to 5-3 in league play and 15-7 overall; the Lions improve to 7-2 in the WCC standings and 10-13 overall. Ross DeRogatis led the Toreros with 19 points and freshman guard Brandon Johnson chipped in with a personal-best 18, but it wasn't enough as the Lions were in control the entire night. LMU's Brandon Worthy led four Lions in double digits with 23 points. The Toreros will get back to work on Wednesday in preparation of their 4 pm home game this Saturday against the USF Dons.
In the first 12 minutes of the 1st half both teams battled to find their mark with LMU holding a 21-18 lead with 7:25 to go. From there the Lions closed out the half by outscoring the Toreros 22-16 for a 43-34 intermission lead. Wes Wardrop led LMU in the first half with 13 points while USD's Ross DeRogatis tallied 11.
In the 2nd half LMU came out of the gates with a 9-0 run and would eventually pull away to a commanding 28 point advantage at 72-44 with 10:10 to go. The closest USD would get from that point was 16 points on a few different occasions. For LMU, following Worthy in scoring was Wardrop (19 points), Matthew Knight (15 points, 13 rebounds) and Chris Ayer (15 points). LMU shot 56.7% from the field and outrebounded the Toreros 40-32. DeRogatis made 5-of-10 threes for San Diego in the losing cause.
