Dec. 22, 2007

Box Score | AP Action Photos

(San Diego, CA) - The USD Toreros (6-8) snapped their 3-game skid with an all-around solid 69-54 victory over visiting Texas San Antonio (5-5). Junior guard Brandon Johnson scored a game-high 18 points, and was followed by Gyno Pomare (15 points, 3 blocks), Rob Jones (13 points, 8 rebounds), and Trumaine Johnson (10 points). The Toreros converted 57.1% of their shots (28-49) and outrebounded UTSA, 28-24. Following Christmas the Toreros will close out the month of December with road games at Kentucky (Dec. 29) and Marshall (Dec. 31).

"I'm really pleased with the guys in the way they responded after being off with finals, and coming off a tough loss to Stephen F. Austin," stated head coach Bill Grier. "Today we got good guard play, especially in the first half, and Gyno continues to be very efficient. We did a good job spreading things out and driving to the basket."

In the first half UTSA jumped out to a 7-point lead at 11-4 with 14:42 to go. USD took its first lead of the game at 19-18 on a Gyno Pomare dunk with 8:38 to go. With the game tied at 26-all with 5:50 left in the first half, USD closed out the half on a 14-2 run led by Brandon Johnson's 8 points including at three-pointer with 00:31 seconds left.

In the 2nd half USD extended their lead to as many as 16 points at 46-30, then saw the Roadrunners battle back to within 6 points at 49-43 with 9:27 to go. Rob Jones scored 5 of the team's next 7 points that gave USD a 12-point cushion, and that would be as close as UTSA would get. UTSA was led by Melvin Smith off the bench with 14 points.