Feb. 6, 2010
Box Score
San Diego, Calif.- The University of San Diego men's basketball team let Saturday evening's game slip away in the second half as they were defeated by Santa Clara 59-43 at the Jenny Craig Pavilion in a WCC contest.
USD (9-16, 2-7) could attribute the loss to poor second-half shooting, as they made only 5-of-18 (27.8%) field goals in the final 20 minutes and went a stretch of over seven minutes midway through without converting a field goal into points. Santa Clara made use of their 15 field goal attempts by hitting eight of them, including five threes, to outscore USD 33-19 in the final period.
All eleven Toreros who logged minutes in Saturday's contest registered at least one point, but none reached double-digits. Senior forward Roberto Mafra led the way with eight points, while junior guard Devin Ginty scored seven and had four assists. Freshman forward Chris Manresa grabbed a team-high six boards to go along with his five points.
San Diego competed evenly with Santa Clara for the first half, as neither side stretched their respective leads to any more than five. Down by four with eleven minutes remaining, the Toreros opened up an 11-2 run to eventually take an 18-13 lead with 6:54 to go. Ken Rancifer ignited the run for USD by sinking a left-handed lay-up at the 10:46 mark, pulling them within two. Manresa and Brandon Johnson added four points and three points, respectively, to give the Toreros the five-point advantage during the four-minute stretch.
The Broncos erased the deficit three minutes later and took the lead once again with 2:42 to go when Raymond Cowels knocked down a three to put Santa Clara ahead 22-19. Devin Ginty answered for USD by nailing a three of his own, tying the game at 22 with less than a minute and a half left. Ginty's three also snapped a stint of six consecutive missed field goals for USD.
Coming out of halftime trailing 26-24, the Toreros watched the close game turn unfavorable as the Broncos went on a 16-4 burst in the first nine minutes of the second half to open up a 42-28 advantage. Johnson drained a three at the 9:42 mark, the second field goal for USD in the half, to make it 42-31, but Santa Clara would not allow the Toreros to close the margin any closer than the eleven points.
The Toreros will travel to the Pacific Northwest next week for two games, with the first coming against the University of Portland. The game against the Pilots will take place on Thursday, February 11th at 8 p.m. The contest can be seen on ESPNU.
