SAN DIEGO— San Diego men's basketball (4-1, 0-0 WCC) on Monday night ended a two-game homestand with yet another comeback win, taking down Navy (0-4, 0-0 Patriot League) by a 67-59 margin in the Jenny Craig Pavilion to remain undefeated at home this season.
Freshman forward
Jimmy Oladokun Jr. headlined the victory with the finest performance of his young college career thus far, scoring a career-high 14 points while pulling in five rebounds.
Wayne McKinney III led all scorers with 16 points of his own alongside four rebounds and four assists.
Deuce Turner added 13 points and matched McKinney III's assist total.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- A pair of threes from freshman Dragos Lungu and transfer PJ Hayes, as well as an and-one from junior Deuce Turner helped USD claim a four-point lead midway through Monday night's first half.
- Navy didn't trail for long, eventually tying the game at 16-16 at the eight minute mark on a pair of free throws from forward Mitch Fischer.
- San Diego ended a 2:30 scoring drought late in the first half on an elbow jumper from Turner, then pulled ahead with less than a minute to go until the break with a bucket from freshman forward Santiago Trouet.
- Navy forward Donovan Draper hit a jumper to give the Midshipmen a one-point lead as the halftime buzzer sounded, sending USD into the intermission trailing 31-30.
- The San Diego defense came out of the gates strong in the second half, holding Navy scoreless for more than two minutes as a flurry of points in the paint from Oladokun Jr. kept the game close for the Toreros.
- An athletic spin move into a floater from McKinney III knotted the game up at 42-42 later in the second half, then Deuce Turner gave the Toreros the lead with another and one to put San Diego up by three.
- A ferocious slam dunk from Oladokun Jr. gave USD some much-needed momentum down the stretch, making way for a fastbreak lay-up from Hayes that gave the Toreros their largest lead of the game at 53-46 with five minutes to go in the contest.
- Navy erased a five-point San Diego lead to pull within one with a minute and a half left in the game but got no closer, dropping a 67-59 decision to the Toreros after McKinney III made all 10 of his free throws in the game's final 1:09 to seal his team the victory.
TORERO TIDBITS
- Freshman Dragos Lungu totaled a team-high seven rebounds and nine points for the Toreros before fouling out of the contest.
- Turner and McKinney III have now reached double-digit points in four of the Toreros' first five games in 2023.
- McKinney III added four rebounds and four assists, and was a perfect 10-for-10 from the free throw line.
- Led by five from freshman Kevin Patton Jr. and three from Oladokun Jr., San Diego tallied a season-high 11 blocks on Monday, and were blocked by Navy just once.
- The Toreros outscored the Midshipmen 42-34 in the paint, and 25-10 on fastbreak points.
UP NEXT
The Toreros will take their first true road trip of the season this week, traveling to Palm Springs, California to take on Arkansas State in the Acrisure Invitational. Tip-off against the Red Wolves on Friday night at Acrisure Arena is set for 7:30 p.m.