SAN DIEGO – Braun Hartfield scored a career-high 25 points and
Joey Calcaterra registered 21 for the third time this season as the two helped lead San Diego to a 79-69 win over Hofstra in the opening game of the Boca Raton Beach Classic on Wednesday at the Jenny Craig Pavilion.
The Toreros (3-5) outscored the Pride (4-3) in the second half by 14 points, keyed by Hartfield and Calcaterra scoring 17 and 12, respectively. Hartfield played 19 of the last 20 minutes, shooting 58.3% from the field. Calcaterra had a pair of three-pointers and sank two late free throws in the second half to help convincingly seal the game.
Hartfield also hauled in a season-high 12 rebounds to give him his first double-double in a Torero uniform. He added three assists, three steals and two blocks while going 10-of-18 from the field.
Calcaterra led the team with five assists and shot 42.8% from three-point range (3-of-7).
The win snapped the Toreros' three-game losing streak and improved their record to 2-2 at home.
Trailing 40-36 at half despite shooting 51.6%, the Toreros led for the final 16 minutes of the game and were up by as much as 13. It was the defense of USD that proved to be effective in the second half as it held Hofstra to 10-of-34 from the field (29.4%) and 3-of-13 from three-point range (23.1%). The Toreros had all five of their steals in the final 20 minutes while blocking three shots (five in the game).
Hofstra finished the night shooting 36.1% to USD's 47.8%. The Toreros, meanwhile, made a season-high 32 field goals on 67 shots (also a season-high).
While they were making shots, USD also limited its mistakes as it turned the ball over only seven times, a season-low and fewest in a game since February 2019.
Adding more offense,
Marion Humphrey reached double-digits in scoring as well for the Toreros, recording 11 points on 5-of-8 shooting (62.5%). The redshirt freshman had six rebounds – third most on the team – and two blocks.
Jared Rodriguez and
James Jean-Marie also had eight points apiece and combining for 12 rebounds (7 by Jean-Marie; 5 by Rodriguez).
The Toreros enjoyed the lead for nearly all of the second half, but the Pride made it close with four minutes remaining when a layup by Isaac Kante cut it to a 62-59 advantage for USD. However, Hofstra only made three of its last 12 shots to end the game, and Hartfield and Calcaterra had three-point daggers to help put the Toreros up 10 with two minutes remaining.
San Diego now enters the neutral site portion of the Boca Raton Beach Classic as it will face St. Bonaventure on Sunday at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT. The winner of that game will play on Monday at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT against the winner of UIC and Florida Atlantic.
NOTES
Hartfield and Calcaterra became the first Toreros to turn in 20-point efforts in the same game since December 2018 when three (
Olin Carter III,
Isaiah Wright and
Isaiah Pineiro) accomplished the feat against Drake.
The five blocks for the Toreros marked the second time this season they had that many in a game (Last: Nov. 5 vs. UC Irvine).
USD had its second-best shooting night of the season and shot higher than 40% for the second game in a row.
The seven turnovers by USD were its fewest since February 28, 2018 at San Francisco (7).
The Toreros out-rebounded Hofstra, 38-33, and won the battle in the paint, 30-18.
