Nov. 9, 2007

Box Score

(Honolulu, HI) - The USD Toreros, under first year head coach Bill Grier, opened their 2007-08 campaign with a solid 73-72 win over the Hawaii Rainbows. With the game tied at 72-all and Hawaii with the ball, junior Gyno Pomare stole a pass and dribbled the length of the floor where he was fouled with two seconds left. He made the first of two free throws to seal the win. Pomare finished with a double-double of 16 points and 11 rebounds, while junior point guard Brandon Johnson ran the team and scored a team-high 19 points. USD returns to San Diego where they will begin a three-game home stand beginning on Nov. 12th against CS Monterey Bay.

"I'm proud of these guys," said coach Grier. "For a young group, I'm proud of the way they hung together. I told them that Hawaii would make some runs at us, and that we just needed to hang tough. Gyno made a heck of a play at the end of the game, and Brandon also did a terrific job running our team tonight. As everyone in coaching knows, this is one of the tougher places to play."

USD shot the ball well in the first half in building a 40-33 intermission lead. In fact, the Toreros made their first six three-point attempts before a Rob Jones miss from the right corner late in the half. USD held a 14 point lead (37-23) with 3:15 to go after a Nathan Lozeau bucket, but the Rainbows closed out the final three minutes on a 10-3 run.

Hawaii came out of the break and quicky established itself as Nash hit a three to make it 40-36. But every time UH made a run, San Diego answered with a key bucket. The game stayed close throughout and the host Rainbows tied the game at 70-all with 1:31 to go on a trey by Jared Dillinger. They took their first lead of the game with 0:43 seconds left on a Riley Luettgerodt bucket, but Pomare knotted it at 72-all with 0:21 seconds, then provided the last second heroics.

Jones would finish the game with 8 points and 9 rebounds in 32 minutes of action in his first collegiate game. Ray Murdock also added 8 points, while Chris Lewis (7 points) and Danny Brown (6 points) contributed as well.

For the game the Toreros shot 45.9% from the field (28-61), 53.8% from beyond the 3-point line (10-21) and also outrebounded UH, 44-40. Hawaii also had a first year coach on the side lines, Bob Nash, and his son Bobby scored a game-high 22 points.