Dec. 22, 2008
Box Score
(San Diego, CA) - The USD Toreros (6-7) ran into a hot-shooting Boise State Bronco team (8-3) tonight in dropping a tough 75-72 decision before 2,864 fans at the Jenny Craig Pavilion. Boise State was a perfect 7-for-7 in three-point shooting in taking a 39-32 halftime lead into the locker room, and then pounded the ball inside in the second half as they escaped with their second straight road victory. USD was paced by Gyno Pomare with 22 points as he'll enter the Mississippi State game on December 30th needing just 3 points to become USD's all-time leading scorer for the men's program. Sophomore guard Trumaine Johnson, seeing action for the first time this season, responded with 16 points and gave the Toreros much needed help at the point guard position.
In the second half USD fell behind by as many as 13 points (47-34) with 17:33 to go, but battled back to knot the score at 51-all with 10:49 to go on a jumper by Trumaine Johnson. BSU's Mark Sanchez (20 points) answered with a three from the corner and the closeset USD would get is one point twice, the last time at 56-55 on two free throws by Johnson. A Kurt Cunningham layup with 3:04 to go gave the Broncos a 69-61 lead, but USD would get within three points on three more occasions, but weren't able to get over the hump as the Broncos had an answer each time.
Johnson's layup with seven seconds left in the game made it 75-72, and following a forced turnover, the Toreros' worked the ball around to guard Danny Brown whose three-point attempt just before the buzzer was off the mark.
BSU guard Anthony Thomas matched Sanchez with 20 points as he canned all four of his three-point attempts, and finished 7-for-8 overall. For San Diego, Matt Dorr chipped in with a season-best 15 points, as did Rob Jones. USD shot 57.1% from the field (28-49), but struggled from the free throw line making just 65% (13-20). Defensively the Toreros allowed too many open looks by the Broncos from beyond the three-point arc.
Following Christmas the Toreros will travel to Starksville, Mississippi to take on the Mississippi State Bulldogs (8-4) on Dec. 30th. USD's next home game is January 2nd against Marshall (7 pm).
