Dec. 31, 2011

Final Stats

(Provo, UT) - The USD Toreros dropped their West Coast Conference opener on the road in Provo, Utah to the league's newest member, BYU. The Cougars dealt the Toreros an 88-52 loss before 16,369 fans at the Marriott Center. BYU improves to 12-4 overall and 1-1 in the WCC while the Toreros fall to 5-8 and 0-1. USD was paced by two players off the bench - Ken Rancifer (12 points, 8 rebounds) and Dennis Kramer (11 points).

The Toreros did not have an answer for BYU's Brandon Davies who totaled 21 points and 22 rebounds to lead all players. He was helped by forward Noah Hartsock and guard Charles Abouo, both with 15 points. BYU out rebounded the Toreros 52-33 and held the Toreros to a season-low shooting mark of 23 percent (14-61).

BYU used 13-2 runs to start the game and start the second half to take control of the game. In the first half, despite falling behind early, the Toreros battled back and had numerous chances to go into intermission down just single digits, but still found themselves in the game at 34-24. The second half was a different story as BYU used its 13-2 run out of the intermission break and kept pouring on their offensive attack against USD. After a John Sinis put-back with 15:41 to go made the score 47-28, Brandon Davies answered with a jumper and BYU would hold a lead of 20 or more points the rest of the way.

Johnny Dee, who entered the game as USD's leading scorer at 14.1 points per game, was held to 2 points while missing on his seven attempts from the field. Darian Norris chipped in with 9 points.

The Toreros return to San Diego to host Saint Mary's on Thursday, January 5th, in a 6 p.m. ESPNU contest.