SAN DIEGO – San Diego led by five with eight minutes remaining in the game, but Saint Mary's made eight of its last 10 shots and nine of 12 free throws to outlast the Toreros 66-60 on Thursday at the Jenny Craig Pavilion.
USD (8-17, 1-9 WCC) held the Gaels (20-5, 7-3 WCC) to 30% shooting in the first 32 minutes to help establish a 46-41 lead in the second half. However, in addition to hot shooting down the stretch by Saint Mary's, the Toreros were 5-of-10 from the free throw line and 4-of-8 from the field in the final eight minutes.
The game was tight for nearly all of the second half as the lead changed six times.
Defensively, the Toreros held the Gaels under 40% shooting for the entire game and 1-of-15 (6.7%) from three. The Gaels entered the night as the nation's best three-point shooting team at 42.7%.
Braun Hartfield led the team in scoring once again, dropping in 18 on 7-of-12 shooting (58.3%) and 2-of-5 from three. The redshirt junior, who has led the team in scoring in three consecutive games and 10 times overall this year, scored 11 of his 18 points in the second half despite sitting for chunks of time due to foul trouble.
Yauhen Massalski and
Finn Sullivan each scored 10 points off the bench for the Toreros and joined Hartfield in double-figures. Massalski added nine rebounds while Sullivan had three of the Toreros' final four field goals in the game as he scored seven in the last seven minutes.
Sullivan's final basket of the night, a lay-up at the 1:06 mark, pulled the Toreros within two at 62-60. Jordan Ford, though, answered for Saint Mary's on the following possession and extended the lead back out to 64-60.
In addition to the five-point advantage, USD was up 55-54 with less than five minutes remaining when Sullivan knocked down one of the Toreros' four three-pointers. The Toreros forced a missed three-pointer by Saint Mary's on the next possession, but an offensive foul by
Alex Floresca turned the ball back over to the Gaels, who took the lead with a jumper by Tommy Kuhse with 3:47 to play.
The field goal by Kuhse ignited a quick 7-0 run for Saint Mary's as it extended its lead out to 61-55 with two-and-a-half minutes left.
USD used a 1-of-12 stretch by Saint Mary's from the field in the middle of the first half to take its first lead of the game at the 5:11 mark. Hartfield converted a contested lay-up to make it 17-16 and then Massalski sank both of his free throws on the next possession to make it 19-17.
The Gaels erased the gap, though, and took a 24-22 lead into halftime.
USD will stay at home for its next game, a 7 p.m. matchup on Saturday against Portland. The Toreros beat the Pilots in the first meeting this season on January 18.
NOTES
Braun Hartfield is shooting 17-of-30 (56.7%) in the last two games while averaging 22.5 points.
Yauhen Massalski missed his second double-double of the season by one rebound. The junior is averaging 8.8 rebounds in the last five games.
Finn Sullivan is averaging 14.8 points in the last four games when he comes off the bench.
Both sides shot 48% from the field in the second half.
USD has lost 13 straight to Saint Mary's.
