Chris Manresa posted his first-career double-double

Men's Basketball

Toreros Cruise Past Waves, 66-44

Jan. 30, 2010

Final Stats

Malibu, Calif.- A career-night from Chris Manresa helped the University of San Diego men's basketball team halt its five-game losing streak in a big way on Saturday evening as the Toreros cruised past Pepperdine 66-44 at the Firestone Fieldhouse.

Manresa set a new career-high in points for the third game in a row with his 17-point output while also grabbing a career-high 10 rebounds, all of which helped the freshman forward turn in his first double-double for his young collegiate career. The 6-8 forward was 7-of-11 in field-goal shooting in the game and, if all that was not enough, he also had two blocks, which tied his career-high.

The Toreros (9-14, 2-5) sealed the victory with a strong second-half performance, but a full-game defensive effort that held the Waves (7-16, 3-4) to a 25.5% (13-of-51) shooting percentage and 44 points, both of which are new season-lows for USD opponents, proved to be the difference. Pepperdine only scored four baskets in the second half, two in the first two and a half minutes and the other two in the last two and a half minutes, while their 13 field goals for entire 40 minutes is also a season low for the Toreros' opponents.

The Toreros forced the Waves to turn the ball over 17 times while USD collected eight steals, led by five from Cameron Miles. The five steals by Miles is a career-high for the freshman guard as well as the most steals in a game by a USD player this season.

Offensively, USD shot 48.1% from the field in the second half, 41.8% for the game, and used a 20-2 run midway through the final period to open up what once was an eight-point lead into a 62-36 thumping with 4:08 left. Manresa was responsible for seven of the 20 points over the stretch, adding to his 13 second-half points.

San Diego only trailed in the game for two minutes and 41 seconds, all of which occurred in the early stages of the first half. Once De'Jon Jackson scored with a lay-up at the 14:52 mark to give San Diego a 10-9 lead, the Toreros would never fall behind again.

In addition to Manresa, two other Toreros, senior guard Brandon Johnson and junior guard Matt Dorr, each turned in double-digit point efforts as Dorr scored 12, all via three-pointers, while Johnson contributed 11 to go along with his five assists. In total, nine different Toreros scored at least two points in the much-needed victory.

The Toreros will return home for a pair of WCC games next weekend, beginning the second leg of conference play. The University of San Francisco is up first for USD as the two teams will square-off on Thursday, February 4th at the Jenny Craig Pavilion for a 7 p.m. tip-off.

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Players Mentioned

Matt Dorr

#20 Matt Dorr

Guard
6' 4"
Junior
1V
De

#23 De'Jon Jackson

Guard
6' 2"
Senior
3V
Brandon Johnson

#1 Brandon Johnson

Guard
6' 0"
Redshirt Senior
3V
Chris Manresa

#34 Chris Manresa

Forward
6' 8"
Freshman
HS
Cameron Miles

#4 Cameron Miles

Guard
6' 1"
Freshman
HS

Players Mentioned

Matt Dorr

#20 Matt Dorr

6' 4"
Junior
1V
Guard
De

#23 De'Jon Jackson

6' 2"
Senior
3V
Guard
Brandon Johnson

#1 Brandon Johnson

6' 0"
Redshirt Senior
3V
Guard
Chris Manresa

#34 Chris Manresa

6' 8"
Freshman
HS
Forward
Cameron Miles

#4 Cameron Miles

6' 1"
Freshman
HS
Guard