Final Stats

LOS ANGELES, Calif. - The University of San Diego men's basketball team fought hard, but its upset bid over No. 22 UCLA Sunday evening fell short, 75-68, in a non-conference game at UCLA's Pauley Pavilion.

With the loss, the Toreros fall to 4-5 overall, and also have back-to-back losses against top-25 programs of a single-digit final margin. With the win, the Bruins improve to 7-2 overall.

Johnny Dee scored a game-high 22 points on 7-of-13 shooting from the field, including hitting on four 3-pointers. Brandon Perry had the best game of his young Torero career, as he recorded a season-high 16 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the field, while also pulling down five rebounds. As a team, USD shot 44.6% from the field, and were outrebounded 37-33.

In the first half, it was a close battle right out of the gates, as UCLA scored the first basket just 14 seconds into action, but the Toreros answered right back with a two-handed dunk by Thomas Jacobs. Then the two teams continued to battle back and forth, with UCLA clinging to a 4 point lead over the first five minutes of action.

The Bruins would eventually build up the lead to as many as six on a Bryce Alford jumper with 14:50 to go. However, USD didn't fold, as they continued to chip away at the lead and crawled back to within one at 16-15 on a Perry lay-up with 12:40 to go.

UCLA then regained the momentum on a Kevon Looney jumper to take a 5-point lead at 27-22 with 7:08 to go. Frm there Dee got hot and went on a 7-0 run himself to give the Toreros their first lead of the game at 29-27 with 4:26 to go. USD would go on to lead by as many as four at 35-31 with 1:10 left, before going into the break up 35-33.

In the second half, the Bruins came out firing on all cylinders, and used a 6-0 run out of the gates to regain the lead at 39-35 with 16:43 to go. The two teams then sea-sawed back and forth and UCLA would take advantage of USD going cold from the field, slowly building up a 9-point lead at 52-43 with 9:45 to go.

Then a Vasa Pusica 3-pointer sparked a 6-3 USD run to pull the Toreros back to within five at 54-49 with 8:29 to go. UCLA however, would then build up its lead to double-digits at 64-54 with 4:20 to go. The Toreros would make one last push and pull to within four at 70-66 on a Perry lay-up with 1:19 to go, but this was as close as USD would get. UCLA would go on to close out the game on a 5-2 run to escape with the 75-68 win.

The Toreros will return to action on Thursday, as they travel to take on UC Santa Barbara in a 7 p.m. non-conference game at the Thunder Dome.