Dec. 20, 2009
Box Score
Las Vegas, Nevada- The University of San Diego men's basketball team dropped their second consecutive game in as many days on Sunday afternoon as they were defeated by South Florida 69-60 at the South Point Arena in the Las Vegas Holiday Hoops Classic.
USD (5-8) held an eight-point advantage with just under 16 minutes left in the game, but South Florida (10-2) went on a 15-1 run that stretched over four minutes midway through the second half to take control of the game.
The Toreros, in similar fashion to Saturday's loss, could not find their stroke in field goal shooting during the second half. They combined to shoot 7-of-23 from the field in the final 20 minutes compared to their 11-of-27 field goal shooting in the opening half. South Florida meanwhile shot 23-of-50 from the field for the game.
Junior guard Devin Ginty scored a season-high 13 points to lead the Toreros in scoring while also adding a career-high six rebounds. Senior guard Brandon Johnson chipped in 12 points and four assists, and senior forward Roberto Mafra reached double-digits in points for the third-straight game with 11.
Holding a 32-30 advantage coming out of halftime, the Toreros recorded a 10-4 run to open the second half as Chris Lewis hit a wide open three from the left wing to set the score at 42-34 with 15:55 remaining. The eight-point lead for USD was the largest margin the Toreros held over the Bulls.
South Florida recovered, however, erasing USD's advantage three minutes later after Dominique Jones scored on a lay-up at the 12:51 mark and placing the Bulls in the lead 44-43. Over a minute later, Mike Mercer hit a lay-up of his own to cap the 15-1 run and stretch the Bulls' lead to six, 49-43.
San Diego would go on to tie the game at 51 after Matt Dorr hit a three for his first points of the game with 8:40 to go. The Toreros never recaptured the lead, though, and were only able to close the gap to four points in the final minutes of the game.
Dorr drained another three with 31 seconds left to narrow South Florida's lead to 64-60, but the Bulls, who shot 67.9% from the charity stripe in the game, hit three of their four free throws in the last thirty seconds to close out the victory.
The Toreros have over a week before they return to game action. San Diego will take on Savannah State on Tuesday, December 29th at 7 p.m. in the Jenny Craig Pavilion, the first of three consecutive home games that will close out USD's non-conference slate.
