SAN DIEGO—San Diego battled late in its first competition of 2021, but came up just short in a 63-69 loss to Santa Clara on Sunday afternoon in the Jenny Craig Pavilion.
 
The Toreros (1-5, 0-2 WCC) suited up nine players to face their first opponent since Dec. 31, after a pause in team activities earlier this month. USD took the early lead, but timely threes gave the Broncos (8-3, 2-1 WCC) the edge late and the Toreros were unable to secure the comeback.
 
Vladimir Pinchuk recorded a career-high 19 points and added 11 rebounds for the first double-double by a Torero this season, while Finn Sullivan and Jared Rodriguez added 13 and 11 points respectively. All three Toreros scored season-highs, while USD shot 35 percent from the field.
 
The Toreros were tough on defense, forcing 15 Santa Clara turnovers, including 11 steals. Marion Humphrey collected three steals and four other players recorded two each. Sullivan led USD with two block shots, while Josh Parrish added one and the Toreros collected 16 points off of turnovers compared to just seven by the Broncos.
 
San Diego began the game with a 10-0 run behind back-to-back three-pointers from Sullivan and held a 19-8 advantage midway through the first half.
 
A pair of timely threes seemed to swing the momentum in favor of the Broncos, who then rattled off a 21-3 run late in the first half to take the lead. SCU shot 78 percent (7-of-9) from beyond the arc in the half and after leading by as many as 11, USD trailed 31-38 at halftime.
 
 The Toreros struggled to get going in the second half and the SCU lead grew to 15. Pinchuk then put together a 6-0 run by himself to give USD a spark midway through the period. San Diego cut the lead down to five with under two minutes to play, but could not complete the comeback.
 
Santa Clara held the slight edge in the rebounding battle, 48-42, while the Toreros held the advantage in second chance points (12-4), points in the paint (26-14) and fast break points (14-11).
 
The Toreros continue a busy week when they travel to Loyola Marymount on Tuesday. The game is set for a 6 p.m. PT tip off.