SAN DIEGO – Braun Hartfield missed a three-pointer while falling down as time expired as San Diego lost its second straight game with a shot in the final seconds, 72-71, to BYU on Saturday at Jenny Craig Pavilion.
 
USD (9-19, 2-11 WCC), after losing on a buzzer-beater at Pepperdine on Thursday, surrendered an alley-oop dunk by the Cougars (21-7, 10-3 WCC) with eight seconds left for the eventual game-winning basket. However, the Toreros had the final look when Hartfield caught an in-bound pass with under three seconds remaining and took the three-point attempt in the left corner but drew the front iron.
 
The game, which had 19 lead changes and eight ties, was the narrowest defeat for USD this season.
 
The Toreros shot 50% from the field (30-of-60) in the game, outrebounded the Cougars 36-27, had 17 assists on their 30 field goals made, and got 40 points off the bench to put up the fighting attempt in their penultimate home game. USD also outscored BYU in the paint, 42-30, but the Cougar dunk in the final seconds proved to be the most decisive of the 72 combined points scored inside.
 
Four Toreros reached double-figures in points, led by Finn Sullivan's 16 off the bench on 6-of-10 shooting. The sophomore also matched his season in assists with five – against no turnovers – and added six rebounds, one short of his season-best.
 
Jared Rodriguez chipped in 13 points off the bench – 11 of which were scored in the second half – while Yauhen Massalski had 11 in a non-starting role. Massalski, though, scored eight of USD's final nine points over the last three minutes, including a lay-up with just over a minute left that gave the Toreros a 70-69 advantage entering the closing seconds.
 
Hartfield had 12 points and a game-high three steals. He finished 5-of-14 from the field and 2-of-7 from three-point range.
 
In the first half, USD led by as much as four with six minutes remaining, but BYU went on a 10-2 run over a two-minute stretch to take its own four-point lead at 28-24. The Toreros responded, though, by securing a 31-30 lead on a Sullivan three-pointer at the 1:14 mark. USD was able to make it a 33-32 advantage going into halftime following a lay-up by Alex Floresca with 23 seconds left.
 
While the Toreros trailed by a small margin in the early going of the second half, Rodriguez went on a hot stretch where he scored seven points over a minute-and-a-half stretch and lifted USD to a 48-46 lead seven minutes in.
 
The Cougars went on to take a five-point lead with nine minutes remaining and then were up four with less than four minutes left. Behind Massalski's powerful presence in the final minutes, though, the Toreros eventually tied it at 66-66 and then took the lead at 70-69.
 
Both sides were hot-shooting in the final 20 minutes as they combined to go 29-of-49 (59%). From long distance, they were 10-of-20 as both had five makes.
 
The Toreros have a Thursday bye before returning to the court on Saturday, February 22 at Saint Mary's for a 5 p.m. tip-off.
 
 
NOTES
USD has had three straight games featuring pivotal shots in the final seconds of regulation. In addition to Saturday, the Toreros lost on a three-pointer as time expired on Thursday and then forced overtime with a Joey Calcaterra three-pointer in the final seconds against Portland last Saturday. The Toreros were able to beat the Pilots in double overtime.
 
The last two games have been decided by a combined four points.
 
Finn Sullivan has 16-point efforts in back-to-back games. Since scoring a career-high 25 at Pepperdine on January 11, the sophomore is averaging 11.8 points in the last 10 games.
 
Braun Hartfield has double-digit points in six straight games and is averaging 21.2 points in the last five.
 
The Toreros committed 16 turnovers and allowed 18 points off those turnovers. BYU, meanwhile, had 11 turnovers and surrendered 11.