March 1, 2014
Final Stats
(San Diego, Calif.) - Junior guard Christopher Anderson matched his career-high with 22 points and became the program's all-time leader in assists with 527, but it wasn't enough as the visiting BYU Cougars held off a USD's comeback bid in a 78-70 victory before 3,889 fans at the JCP. WCC leading scorer Tyler Haws scored a game-high 25 points for the Cougars as BYU made just a few more plays than the Toreros down the stretch.
With the loss the Toreros' record falls to 16-15 and they finish with a WCC mark of 7-11. They got the help from Pacific they needed today as the Tigers rallied to defeat Portland, 68-65. By sweeping Portland (15-15, 7-11) this season, the Toreros will head to the WCC Tourney as the No. 6 seed and will face No. 3 USF on Saturday, March 8th (time to be determined). The Toreros almost earned the bye on their own as they overcame a 16-point first half deficit (35-19 at 5:03 mark) to storm back and get back in the game by intermission (41-33).
In the second half, playing without second leading scorer Duda Sanadze (left game with foot injury), the Toreros battled back to knot the score at 47-all on two free throws from Johnny Dee with 12:36 to go. A three-pointer from freshman Brett Bailey gave the Toreros a 50-47 advantage with 10:53 to go, but BYU's Matt Carlino answered immediately with a three of his own. A three- pointer from Christopher Anderson put USD back ahead 56-54, and their last lead of the game would come one a Jito Kok dunk at the 7:44 mark (58-56).
BYU's Haws would nail a three and a free throw to put the Cougars ahead 67-60 with 2:55 left, but USD rallied once more behind another Kok dunk and a three from Anderson to get within 67-65 with 2:02 to go. A Kyle Collinsworth three from the right side with 1:28 was a key basket for the visitor's as they were controlled the game the rest of the way.
Kok finished with a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds for the Toreros. Kok added one blocked shot and now has 54 on the seaon, one shy of his school record of 55 he set a year ago. Johnny Dee chipped in with 12 points and moved into USD's No. 4 all-time slot for points at 1,460 points. Senior Dennis Kramer, playing his last regular-season home game for the Toreros, chipped in with 7 points and 8 rebounds.
BYU (21-10, 13-5) also received double-digit scoring from Carlino (14), Anson Winder (11) and Collinsworth (10). BYU shot 51.9% from the field and 56.3% from beyond the arc (9-16). USD shot 43.1% overall and canned 10-of-26 threes.
