POWAY -- The USD men's basketball team made their way up to Poway last night for their annual clinic with the Poway Youth Basketball League Challenged Division at Meadowbrook Middle School. This annual tradition with USD and PYBL was started about seven years ago, and the fun event is a highlight each year for USD coaches and players, as well as all of the PYBL participants.

"It's something that is very special to our basketball team," said USD head coach Lamont Smith. "To be able to give back to the community in any capacity is outstanding. But to give back to kids with disabilities is even more outstanding. It's also very humbling for our guys and hopefully they lay their head at night knowing that they're blessed and very fortunate."

The Toreros ran the PYBL players through some warm-up exercises, and then broke up into stations at the various baskets for individual drills for shooting, rebounding and dribbling. The evening ended with some spirited three-point contests and half-court shots, and was capped off by USD players and coaches signing autographs on USD basketball posters.

The PYBL Challenged Division, which is in its 25th year of existence, is open to all players with intellectual disabilities. The division has grown from a handful of players to more than 100 participants. Linda Bradbury, one of three PYBL Challenged Coordinators who has been involved with the program all 25 years, had this to say about USD's involvement.

"This has been an outstanding feature. They have given our kids so much self-esteem. They have taught them skills. They've built friendships. These players look forward every year for the USD basketball team to come up and be a part of our season. We love this team and we just love everything that they do for us."

Junior forward Brett Bailey was making his third trip up to Poway for the annual clinic.

"I love the relationships. Getting to know the kids and the players. They have so much fun with it as well as we do. They're just excited to see us and they always want to take us one-on-one, so it's always a great time. It kind of puts things into perspective when you have people so eager to learn basketball. It takes you back to when you first picked up a ball so it's really good for us."

The PYBL Challenged Division players and families will be attending USD's 1:00 p.m. home game on Saturday, January 30th, against the LMU Lions.