Jan. 14, 2010
Box Score
San Diego, Calif.- The University of San Diego men's basketball team dropped its second consecutive conference game on Thursday evening, losing to the University of Portland 63-54 at the Jenny Craig Pavilion.
Although the game contained 15 lead changes throughout, the Toreros (8-11, 1-2) could not find their stroke in the second half, shooting 8-of-28 (28.6%) from the field after hitting 12 of their 26 shots (46.2%) in the opening half. USD also was beaten on the boards by Portland (10-6, 1-1) 37-25.
Senior guard Brandon Johnson, on 4-of-10 three-point shooting and 6-of-15 total from the field, scored a team-leading 19 points. Senior guard De'Jon Jackson was the only other Torero to reach double-digits with 10.
Jackson opened up the scoring for San Diego with a three less than thirty seconds in, but with nine lead changes in the first half alone, the game's advantage was not held for very long. After trailing 4-3 with 18 minutes left, the Toreros used a stretch of 5-of-8 shooting from the field for the next eight minutes to take the lead 14-13. Johnson hit a three to place USD in the lead at the 10:20 mark.
The Toreros were only able to produce a lead as much as two points, holding their final advantage for the half with 5:46 to go when Chris Lewis drained a jumper following a feed from Jackson. USD tied it up twice more but was unable to climb into the lead in the final minutes of the half, entering the halftime break trailing 31-30.
USD quickly cancelled Portland's advantage at the beginning of the second half when Matt Dorr sunk a wide-open three from the left corner to put the Toreros ahead 33-32. Johnson went on to score five consecutive points for the Toreros to place them in the lead once again at 38-36 with 16:24 to go.
The lead, however, was the Toreros final one on the night, as San Diego, after Johnson's three at the 16:24 mark, entered into a cold streak in shooting and hitting one of their 15 shots over a span of almost 11 minutes midway through the half. Dorr scored the only basket over the stretch when he drained a three to pull the Toreros within three, 44-41 with 9:54 left.
The Toreros did not let the Pilots open up the game too much despite their unimpressive shooting, limiting Portland to shoot 5-of-14 over the same period of game-time. It was not enough, though, as Portland would go on to lead as much ten in the final five minutes of play while USD could not trim the visitors' advantage to any less than six.
The Toreros will take the court again this Saturday when they host #18 Gonzaga at the Jenny Craig Pavilion. Tip-off for the January 16th game is set for 6 p.m.
