Jan. 21, 2010
Final Stats
Moraga, Calif.- The University of San Diego men's basketball team dropped his fourth consecutive contest as they were defeated by WCC foe Saint Mary's 71-56 on Thursday evening at the McKeon Pavilion.
USD (8-13, 1-4) fell behind early and continued their run of poor shooting during conference play as they hit 35.6% of their field-goal attempts, while St. Mary's (17-3, 4-1) out-matched them with a 57.1% shooting percentage. In five WCC games, the Toreros have not shot any better than 39.1% from the field, which occurred in their lone conference-win against Santa Clara.
Freshman forward Chris Manresa led the Toreros with 13 points and nine rebounds in 29 minutes off the bench, both totals new season-highs for him. Senior forward Chris Lewis chipped in 11 points and six boards.
Lewis put USD on the board quickly with a three 19 seconds into the game and giving the Toreros a simple 3-0 advantage. The Gaels answered in a big way by going on runs of 12-0 and 9-0, sandwiching a Roberto Mafra lay-up that was only the Toreros' second basket for the first eight minutes.
USD fell behind as much as 19 points in the early-going before Manresa sparked a 10-3 run with a lay-up at the 7:48 mark. De'Jon Jackson drained his second three of the game to pull the Toreros within 32-20 with 4:43 remaining in the first half.
The 12-point deficit was the closest the Toreros could climb, however, as they finished the half hitting only one of their final six field goals. Lewis scored the only basket during the final four and a half minutes, sinking a three with 1:50 left and setting the score at 39-24. The Gaels, meanwhile, continued to utilize their fine shooting, as they hit 68% of their field goals in the opening 20 minutes of play.
Coming out of the halftime break trailing 43-24, the USD disadvantage swelled to 23 points before Brandon Johnson ignited an 11-2 run with a tough lay-up less than two minutes into the second half. Jackson added a two-on-one lay-up after Johnson registered a quick steal on the Gaels' subsequent possession. Matt Dorr capped the run after he picked up his first points of the game by splashing a wide-open three at the 16:05 mark, trimming St. Mary's lead to 49-35.
The Toreros could not narrow the Gaels' advantage any closer, hindered by their errant shooting. After Devin Ginty drilled a three with 9:33 to go, USD entered a stretch in which they missed eight consecutive shots over three minutes. Ken Rancifer ended the rough patch with a finger-roll lay-up with 5:25 remaining.
USD will continue their three-game stretch of road games when they take on Loyola Marymount on Thursday, January 28th at 7 p.m. PT.
