USD vs Bethesda Stats

San Diego, Calif. -- The USD Toreros won their fourth straight game with tonight's 105-89 win over Bethesda University to move their record to 6-5. Sophomore guard Olin Carter III scored a career-high 34 points as he connected on 10-of-11 shots from the field and was a perfect 8-for-8 from the line. He was joined in double-digit scoring from the rest of the starting lineup -- Brett Bailey (17), Cameron Neubauer (17), Juwan Gray (16) and Tyler Williams (12). Bailey added 10 rebounds for a double-double, while Gray and Neubauer just missed on a double "D" with 9 boards each.

"Getting to a winning record feels great, and from where we have come from, this is really good for the kids to see some success," said head coach Lamont Smith. "Obviously we know we still have a lot of work to do on both sides of the ball. I thought Olin's 34 tonight was a quiet 34. He was really efficient. We knew when we recruited him that he could score and he's been doing that. He's also becoming a very good leader for this team."

In the first half the Toreros jumped out to a 7-0 lead behind a three-ball from Cameron Neubauer and inside buckets from Brett Bailey and Juwan Gray. Treys from Olin Carter III and Bailey pushed the score to 13-7, and soon after an old-fashioned three-point play in close by Gray made it 18-9. Bethesda's Michael Walker connected on a long three from the top to close to within 18-12. At the midway point of the first half the Toreros held a 27-16 advantage with Bailey leading the way with 7 points.

Carter's second made three-ball at the 8:54 mark gave the Toreros a 30-19 lead. With 5 minutes left in the half USD was ahead 36-24 with four players with at least 7 points led by Carter's eight. At the half USD held a 48-33 lead with sophomore guard Olin Carter III (14 points) and senior forward Brett Bailey (13 points) leading the way. Carter connected on all four of his three-point attempts, including a buzzer-beater just before the end of the half.

After the break Carter extended his three-point streak for makes to six straight as the Toreros pulled ahead 69-49 with eleven minutes to go. With a new career-high of 24 points in just 21 minutes of action, he would finally miss for the first time beyond the arc at the 12:04 mark. It was Bethesda who heated up in the second half as they made 11-of-24 threes over the final 20 minutes of action. The Flames were led by Travis Divita in the second half with 18 points. For the game they were paced by Jarrell Tate (24 points) and Buddha Boyd (21 points).

"My teammates did a really good job tonight getting me the ball when I was open," said Olin Carter III. "And the coaching staff has just been talking to me about just taking really good shots and not forcing it. Tonight I didn't force anything and I really thought I did a good job getting to the free throw line, something I hadn't been doing."

Included in Carter's 10-11 shooting performance, he finished 6-7 beyond the arc. Before tonight only eight Toreros had scored 34 or more points in a game. Last season Duda Sanadze set the Torero record for NCAA Division I play with 38 points against Portland in his final home game. The all-time school record is 40 points by Robert "Pinky" Smith against Chapman College in 1972.

For the game, USD shot 50% from the field (30-60); made 11-of-30 three-pointers and converted 34-43 free throws. USD also out-rebounded Bethesda, 44-29. The Flames also shot 50% from the field (35-70) and made 14-of-34 three-point attempts. The 105 points is the most by a Torero team since the 2005-06 campaign when USD dealt Point Loma Nazarene University a 104-57 defeat.

The Toreros (6-5) close out their non-conference schedule with a road contest at the University of North Texas this coming Thursday, December 22nd. Game time is 5:00 p.m. (PST) and Jack Cronin will be on hand to call the game which will air on ESPN 1700AM (audio link at usdtoreros.com).