Dec. 10, 2011
Box Score
(San Diego, CA) - USD freshman guard Johnny Dee tied a school record with 8 made three-pointers on his way to scoring a season-high 26 points in leading the USD Toreros (5-4) to an impressive 77-63 win over the Maine Black Bears (3-4) at the Jenny Craig Pavilion. Dee ties the mark set by Ross DeRogatis (2004-05 & 2005-06) and once by Mark Manor (1986-87). Chris Manresa chipped in with 17 points and 9 rebounds, and freshman guard Christopher Anderson added 11 points, 6 assists and 5 boards. Maine was paced by local product Gerald McLemore, a senior guard from nearby Scripps Ranch, with 23 points.
The Toreros trailed 37-35 at the intermission break, but came out in the second half and outscored the Black Bears 21-6 in taking a 56-43 lead on a Dee three. A Chris Manresa free throw would give USD its biggest lead of 14 points and from there the closest Maine would get is 8 points on five different occasions, the last coming at 71-63 with 2:29 to go. Back-to-back lay-ups by Christopher Anderson squelched any thoughts of a Maine rally.
Coach Bill Grier had this to say about his freshman backcourt tonight, "They (Christopher Anderson and Johnny Dee) did a tremendous job tonight. Chris does such a good job pushing the tempo and finding guys and really got a sense when Johnny got the hot hand tonight and getting him the ball. Chris also made some shots for us tonight and got himself to the free throw line that really helped us. And Johnny still needs to step up and make those shots and he's such a great shooter it doesn't surprise me one bit what he accomplished tonight."
USD's second half defense was impressive as they held the Black Bears to 26.7% shooting (8-30) over the final 20 minutes, and just 39.3% for the game (24-61). Maine's backcourt of McLemore and Andrew Rogers came into the game combining for 42 points a game scoring and the Toreros held the duo to 27 points tonight with Rogers tallying just 4 points in 27 minutes of action. This is a Maine team that played Notre Dame to within 9 points two nights ago.
Added Grier, "It was a much needed win and what I was most pleased with was the way we guarded in the second half, and in holding them to 26 percent in the 2nd half and 39 percent overall. We haven't done that in a while and I've been trying to get this team to understand that to win you can't just rely on outscoring people, but that you have to get stops and not let teams just come down and get easy baskets."
USD shot 56.9% from the field (29-51), and made 8-of-14 three-pointers (57.1%) with Dee accounting for 8-of-13. The Toreros return to the JCP this coming Tuesday, Dec. 13th, to face the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos (4-2) in a 6:05 p.m. contest.
