Box Score

(San Diego, Calif.) - The USD Toreros used a 13-0 run in the second half to overcome a 4-point deficit and hand the LMU Lions a 59-50 WCC setback. Senior guards Johnny Dee (18 points) and Christopher Anderson (14 points, 6 assists, 4 steals) led the offensive attack and junior Jito Kok set a new Torero single game record with 8 blocked shots. The Toreros improve to 9-8 on the season (2-3 WCC) and welcome the Pepperdine Waves (10-5, 3-1) on Saturday at 3pm. Pepperdine will be riding a huge wave of confidence coming off their 67-61 road win at BYU tonight.

San Diego won this game more with their defensive effort with Kok's blocked shots and Christopher Anderson's masterful job on Evan Payne, holding him to 1 point in the first half and 13 overall. He came into the contest averaging 20.5 points. With 8 blocked shots, Kok moved ahead of Roberto Mafra's mark of 7 blocks against Santa Clara (3-5-2010). The WCC record for league and overall games is 11 by Pepperdine's Jarrad Henry (vs. Portland, 2-5-07). USD also received a game-high nine rebounds from senior forward Thomas Jacobs.

Dee's basket just before halftime gave the Toreros a 23-20 intermission lead. The visiting Lions would go up by as many as 4 points twice in the second half, the last time coming at 43-39 with 8:56 to go on a Godwin Okonji jumper. In the 13-0 run that gave the Toreros a 52-43 advantage with 2:28 to go, Christopher Anderson had back-to-back three-pointers, and Duda Sanadze chipped in with four points. The closest LMU would get down the stretch was six points at 54-48 with 52 ticks to go. Besides Payne's 13 points, LMU received 10 points from Patson Siame.

During a pre-game ceremony, Johnny Dee was recognized for breaking USD's all-time scoring record and was joined at midcourt by head coach Bill Grier and Torero athletic director Ky Snyder.