Jan. 5, 2012
Box Score
By Darren Feeney
The San Diego Toreros gave the Saint Mary's Gaels all they could handle, but the Gaels escaped from Jenny Craig Pavilion with a 78-72 victory.
Saint Mary's (14-2, 3-0 WCC) had a 69-62 with 3:24 remaining. A Johnny Dee three-point play trimmed the Gaels' lead to four with 1:56 left on the clock, but Saint Mary's made 7-of-10 free throws inside the final two minutes to secure the win.
"I thought we competed and took a step in the right direction tonight against a very good basketball team," head coach Bill Grier said. "Against a team like this you cannot make mistakes and I thought that was the difference."
The Toreros (5-9, 0-2 WCC) held the Gaels to 37-percent shooting from the field in the first half and would have went into the locker room with the lead if it weren't Jorden Page's three pointer at the buzzer to give Saint Mary's the 35-33 lead at halftime.
In the second half it was the Ken Rancifer show. After going scoreless in the first half, Rancifer made his first five shots and put together 10 consecutive points. But every time the Toreros crept within a point or two, Gaels' forward Rob Jones had an answer.
Jones, the WCC rebounding leader, finished with 31 points and 12 rebounds for his eighth consecutive double-double.
Rancifer finished with 13 points.
"I think Kenny's finally starting to play how I hoped he'd play a year ago quite honestly," Grier said. "He's practiced better, he's practiced harder and I thought he gave us good minutes. Rob (Jones) is a tough matchup."
Freshman guard's Johnny Dee and Christopher Anderson led the Toreros charge. Dee had a team-high 22 points including four three pointers. Anderson finished with 16 points and six assists with only two turnovers.
"I thought our two freshman guards played exceptionally well against an extremely experienced and physical team," Grier said.
There were nine lead changes and nine separate occasions when the score was tied. Saint Mary's guard Matthew Dellavedova finished with 16 points, eight assists and five rebounds, including several key free throws down the stretch.
"I told them in the locker room a loss is never good enough," Grier said. "But if they would compete like that night in, night out, then we can walk off the floor having gave our best shot and playing as hard as we could."
The Toreros return to action Saturday night to host Loyola Marymount for a 6:00 p.m. tip-off.
