Nov. 27, 2009
Final Stats
(Anchorage, Alaska) - Junior forward Clinton Houston scored a career-high 21 points to lead the USD Toreros (4-1) past the Houston Cougars 72-65. The UH Cougars came into the game averaging 97.0 points per game thru three games, but the Torero defense held them to a season-low 65 points and 36.1% shooting. USD also used some clutch free throw shooting down the stretch (made final 11 attempts in last 3 minutes) to hold off the hard charging Cougars. USD will face Washington State (5-0 in Saturday's championship game (8:00 p.m. pacific; Fox College Sports TV; XX 1090 AM radio).
"This was a gutty win," said head coach Bill Grier. "Coming into this game we were concerned with their style of play and knew we had to play at our own pace and try to control the tempo. I thought our guys did a good job of that and Clinton had his best game with his inside scoring. I'm very proud of our team's effort."
Houston `s previous career-best was his 8-point outing at Pacific this season, but tonight he had 13 points by halftime as USD took a slim 31-27 lead into the locker room. Brandon Johnson followed Houston with 15 points, including a perfect 10-for-10 from the charity stripe. Fifth-year senior Chris Lewis notched his second straight double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds. Houston's Aubrey Coleman, who came into the game averaging 30.7 points, was held to a team-best 18 points on 6-of-16 shooting.
In the second half USD built their lead to as many as 13 points (59-46) with 4:12 to go on two Brandon Johnson free throws. From there the Cougars (2-2) charged hard, outscoring the Toreros 19-13 behind some big three-pointers by Kelvin Lewis (17 points), but the Toreros canned 11-of-12 free throws over the final 2:55, including their final 11 attempts.
For the second straight game at the tourney USD out rebounded their opponent, this time 38-20. USD also converted 57.9% of their shots (22-38) and 25-of-30 from the line (83.3%). Despite a season-high 23 turnovers, USD kept their composure down the stretch for their 4th win in five games this season.
