Jan. 13, 2011
Box Score
SAN DIEGO, CA - The visiting Santa Clara Broncos (10-8; 1-1 wcc) dealt the USD Toreros a 61-52 defeat at the Jenny Craig Pavilion this evening. San Diego, playing its first home game in a month, drops to 3-14 overall and 0-3 in league. Senior guard Matt Dorr paced the Toreros with 12 points. Santa Clara had two players reach double digits - sophomore guard Kevin Foster (game high 15), and senior forward Troy Payne off the bench with 10.
The Toreros scored game's first 5 points and jumped out to a 13-2 advantage in the first four minutes, but the Broncos got right back in the game, knotting the score at 15-all at the 10:21 mark on a Kevin Foster jumper. With the score 17-17, USD's Ken Rancifer supplied back-to-back dunks to put USD up by four, and the Toreros extended their lead to six at 25-19 on a Matt Dorr jumper with 6:07 left. Santa Clara clawed its way back and tied the score at 29-all as both teams headed into the locker room at halftime.
In the 2nd half USD got off to a very slow start as they didn't score their first points of the half until the 14:39 mark on two free throws by Devin Ginty. SCU would lead by as many as 8 (43-35) with 11:52 to go, but the Toreros battled their way back to close to within one on two occasions, the last at 47-46 with 6:41 left. From there it was all Santa Clara as they closed out the game on a 14-6 run.
USD shot 50% for the game (21-42), but struggled at the free throw line (7-13), and were outrebounded by 10 (35-25). Chris Manresa led the Toreros in rebounding with 9 boards to go with 8 points. Darian Norris added 8 points and dished out a game-high 6 assists, and Chris Gabriel came off the bench to score 9 points.
The Toreros return to the JCP on Saturday for a 6:05 p.m. contest against the USF Dons (7-10; 1-1 wcc). San Francisco dropped a 71-57 contest this evening at Saint Mary's. The game will be televised on Channel 4 San Diego (Mark Neely & Jim Brogan), while Ben Higgins steps in for Andy Masur on XTRA Sports 1360 AM.
