Feb. 11, 2010
Box Score
Despite three Toreros reaching double-digits in points and Patrick McCollum's 11 assists, the University of San Diego men's basketball team was dealt a 70-56 defeat by the Portland Pilots on Thursday evening at the Chiles Center in a WCC contest.
Already without the services of De'Jon Jackson due to a torn ACL, the Toreros (9-17, 2-8) were also without their leading scorer, senior guard Brandon Johnson, who sat out to rest an injury. The Toreros attempted to make up for the absences with contributions from the remaining healthy players. Senior forward Chris Lewis led the way by making five of his six field goals, including three from beyond the arc, to tally 13 points. Junior guard Matt Dorr also drained three triples to score 11 points.
A pair of freshmen, forward Chris Manresa and guard McCollum, established new career-highs in rebounds and assists, respectively. Manresa registered his second-career double-double with his 12 points and a career-high 11 boards. McCollum, meanwhile, dished out a career-high 11 assists to complement his eight points. The 11 helpers handed out by McCollum were the most by a Torero this season.
After falling behind 8-0 in the first four minutes of the game, the Toreros went on a 16-4 surge to open up their largest lead of the game, 16-12, with 9:10 remaining in the first half. Dorr ignited the run with a lay-up as well as capping it with a three.
USD relinquished the lead almost four minutes lead, however, when Portland's Robin Smeulders hit a jumper to set the score at 19-18 with 5:23 to go. The Toreros managed to tie it up twice in the remaining first-half minutes, with the last time coming off a Manresa lay-up to make it 23-all with 2:23 left, but the Toreros entered the break trailing 27-23.
The Pilots (15-8, 6-3) stretched their lead to double-digits at the 16:55 mark, never allowing the visiting Toreros to cut the deficit to single-digits again. USD shot 48% (12-of-25) from the field in the second half, only to be bested by Portland's 57.7% (15-of-26) clip.
The closest San Diego could close the gap was 12 points, which occurred in the final minute of the game. Lewis, with the help of McCollum's 11th and final assist of the game, hit a trey to make it 67-55 at the 0:41 mark, but the points proved to be too little too late as the Pilots did what they did all second-half and answered with a three of their own 21 seconds later.
The Toreros will close out their slate of road games for the 2010 season when they travel to Spokane, WA where they will take on the Gonzaga Bulldogs this Saturday, February 13th. The game against Gonzaga is set for 7:00 p.m. and can be seen on ESPNU.
