LAS VEGAS – San Diego was outrebounded and outshot by LMU in Thursday's first round matchup in the 2020 UCU WCC Basketball Tournament as the Toreros' season came to an end with a 75-61 loss to the Lions at the Orleans Arena.
 
USD (9-23, 2-14 WCC) lost the rebounding battle 39-20 and saw the Lions (11-20, 4-12 WCC) shoot 50% from the field in a contest between the tournament's No. 8 and 9 seeds. The Toreros, meanwhile, shot 32.7% and trailed for nearly 35 minutes of the game.
 
Alex Floresca scored 12 points in his final USD contest to highlight a group of three Toreros in double figures. The redshirt senior scored eight of his dozen points in the first half and also had three rebounds and a steal.
 
Marion Humphrey, a redshirt freshman, nearly matched his career-high with 15 points while leading the team in rebounds with nine. He was 3-of-8 from the field but 8-of-8 from the free throw line to lead a USD effort at the charity stripe that saw it go a season-best 21-of-22.
 
Joey Calcaterra, who was a perfect 4-of-4 from the line, matched Humphrey in scoring with 15. He had 12 points in the second half and went 3-of-5 from three-point range.
 
While the Toreros had six three-pointers in 19 attempts, the Lions were 3-of-17 from beyond the arc but still managed to shoot 22-of-44 from the field. They also finished the game 87.5% at the free throw line (28-of-32).
 
Keli Leaupepe led all scorers with 23 points. He was 13-of-13 at the line and 5-of-11 from the field.
 
The Toreros trailed early, but they erased a seven-point deficit by locking down the Lions with four turnovers and holding them to one field goal attempt over a four-minute stretch. It helped the Toreros tie the game at 11-11 with under 12 minutes remaining.
 
After USD went four minutes without a field goal and LMU once again assumed the lead, the Toreros jumped out ahead at 16-15 when Calcaterra hit the first of his trio of three-pointers at the 7:06 mark.
 
After Alex Floresca tied it at 18-18 with a hook shot with 6:18 remaining, the Lions went on a 10-0 run and closed out the final six minutes of the first half scoring 14 of the game's 18 points to take a 32-22 lead into halftime. On the offensive end, the Toreros had only basket in the last six minutes, going 1-of-6 with three turnovers.
 
USD was able to cut it to five at 34-29 in the second half on a put-back lay-up by Braun Hartfield, but the Lions stretched it out to a 13-point lead when they sank five of their next nine attempts and outrebounded the Toreros 7-0 over the same stretch.
 
LMU extended its lead to as much as 19 with under five minutes remaining, but the Toreros did trim it down to 10 at 63-53 with the help of back-to-back threes by Calcaterra. He and Humphrey were also perfect at the free throw line in the same timespan while defensively, USD forced two turnovers and held the Lions without a field goal for a two-and-a-half minute stretch.
 
The Lions kept the Toreros away from cutting the lead to single digits, though, by going 12-of-14 from the free throw line in the final three minutes.
 
 
NOTES
Floresca was the lone senior on the Toreros' roster that features nine sophomores or freshmen.
 
Floresca averaged 10.7 points in the last three games of his career. Thursday's 12 points were his most in a game since scoring 13 against Pepperdine in January.
 
Floresca also finished his career tied for fifth in program history in games played with 129.
 
The 21 free throws made were USD's second-highest total in a game this season while the 95.5% success rate was its best since January 5, 2017 vs. Pacific (17-of-17; min. 10 attempts).
 
Thursday was the third time this year and second time in as many games Humphrey led the team in rebounding.
 
USD only committed 10 turnovers while LMU had 17. The Toreros scored 22 points on turnovers.
 
The two teams combined for nine free throw attempts in the first half and 45 in the second. They were a combined 41-of-45 from the charity stripe in the last 20 minutes.