Feb. 13, 2014
Final Stats
(Moraga, Calif.) - Despite a career-night by senior forward Dennis Kramer with 25 points, the Toreros dropped a hard-fought 69-57 contest to the Saint Mary's Gaels. Johnny Dee followed with 14 points to move him into the No. 5 all-time scoring spot among Toreros. His three from the right corner for his 12th point of the night moved him past Bob Bartholomew, and he was set up on the play by Chris Anderson's 500th career assist. Dee now has 1,398 career points.
Saint Mary's received a team-high 21 points from guard James Walker III, with other double-digit games coming from Stephen Holt (13 points) and Kerry Carter (12). The Toreros did a nice job defensively on center Brad Waldow holding him to just 6 points. For USD Duda Sanadze also reached double-digits with 10 points, and the Toreros held a 24-23 advantage in rebounding. The Toreros shot 51.2 percent from the field, and a solid 76.9% from the free throw line, but ended up with 13 turnovers to just 7 for the Gaels.
The Gaels held a slim 35-34 intermission lead as James Walker III converted the second of two free throws with two ticks left for the one point advantage. The Toreros got a big half out of senior forward Dennis Kramer with 15 points on 6-of-7 shooting. Johnny Dee chipped in with 9 points to help keep the Toreros in the game. Stephen Holt, last week's WCC player of the week, led the Gaels with 9 points at the intermission break.
In the second half the Toreros battled back to take a 45-40 lead on a Kramer bucket at the 15:00 minute mark. A Simi Fajemisin basket with 12:13 to go kept the Toreros on top 49-47, but from there USD wouldn't see their next points until 7:49 to go on a Jito Kok basket. During that 4:24 stretch the Gaels outscored the Toreros 11-2 to take a 58-49 lead. With 5:47 to go a Johnny Dee lay-in pulled USD to within 60-55, but from there SMC closed with a 9-2 run over the final 5:11.
With the win Saint Mary's improves to 14-1 at home this season and 19-7 overall (9-4 WCC). The Toreros (13-14, 4-10) close out this road trip on Saturday at Pacific (7pm, Time Warner Cable SportsNet). Pacific beat BYU tonight 89-82.
