SAN DIEGO – Torero Men's Basketball clawed back in the fight several times but was narrowly outlasted by crosstown rival UC San Diego Saturday night, 71-77 in the Jenny Craig Pavilion.
 
Sophomore forward Santiago Trouet grabbed 20 rebounds in the contest, the third most in a single game by a Torero, most in 42 years. The Argentina international was a point shy of his fourth double-double of the season. He also added on a team-high two steals, a block and three assists. 
 
Fellow sophomore, guard Joey Chammaa, also had a career night, scoring 14 points in 17 minutes on 5-7 shooting as the lone Torero in double figures.
 
The game boiled down to turnovers as the Tritons scored 31 points on USD's 23 turnovers, fronted by the nation's leader in steals, Hayden Gray's seven swipes. UCSD guard Tyler McGhie was 7-10 from three, 5-5 in the second half to keep the Toreros at bay.
 
San Diego, however, not only out-rebounded their northern neighbors from La Jolla, but also shot better from the field (50.9%, 55.2% in the second), and scored 31 points off the bench to UC San Diego's six.
 
How it Happened

• The Toreros ran out the same lineup as a week prior against Fresno State, with senior forward Bendji Pierre get his second nod of the season
• While USD led for 29 seconds, early turnovers and a UCSD scoring run took precedence at the start
•  Six Toreros came in off the bench in the first 15 minutes of play, including Neel Beniwal who finished +3 in seven minutes … freshman guard Jackson Gaffney made his career debut
• A USD 9-0 run fueled by a 6-7 field goal hot streak while playing lock down defense saw the Toreros bring the game to 23-25 with less than five minutes remaining in the first period
• After having trailed by as much as 11, a Trouet jumper at 1:45 to go knotted the score at 28s, but UCSD went into the break leading by four
• Another turnover riddled start led to the Tritons expanding that lead to nine
• Yet again, a hot run of shooting from the field for the Toreros and another three-plus minute field goal drought by the guests on the other end saw USD pull back within three points
• The UCSD shooting came back to life inside eight minutes to extend the lead back to double-digits
• Three straight jumper makes from freshman guard Tony Duckett and an additional out of the hands of Chammaa reeled the game back to four points
• However, McGhie's sixth and seventh makes of the night put the game out of reach once and for all, extending the Triton advantage to as much as 12, 77-71 by game's end

 
Up Next
San Diego Men's Basketball returns in a week's time after the holiday for it's first neutral site game of the season, taking on Grand Canyon inside the state-of-the-art Intuit Dome in Los Angeles, Calif. on Saturday, Dec. 28 at 3:30 p.m..
 
Tickets for the West Coast Hoops Showdown event can be purchased HERE
 
The contest will be the second ever played in the newly-opened Intuit Dome, the advanced home to NBA side Los Angeles Clippers, following the conclusion of the UCLA vs. Gonzaga game at 1 p.m..
 
The game likely will not be televised, however, can be exclusively streamed for free on USDToreros.com/watch, with Jack Cronin and Braden Surprenant calling the action over the radio airwaves. USD Head Coach Steve Lavin and other members of the team will join the show for analysis at the half and post-game. Inside coverage and game updates can also be found on the @USDMBB social channels.
 
Postgame Quotes
Head Coach Steve Lavin
Opening statement…
When UCSD was forced to play on the half court, we were effective, but because of the point differential and the points off turnovers and also, fueling their fast break. That really was the difference and still was. We out rebounded them by 12. We held our own on the boards, even at times playing a little bit of an undersized lineup, as we're kind of searching for offensive production, we shot the ball well from the three that allowed us to stay within distance. Tony Duckett in the second half gave us a lift and some valuable, meaningful moments for Joey Chammaa. They moved the ball well, we were looking for the open man, and I thought we did a better job in the second half, in particular, maybe the last 10 minutes, of looking for one another, which is something we have to improve upon. I think we made progress this week in our practices, and we don't always have the carryover, the application of, what we're focused on in practice, in the games, and so that's, and my view tonight, what I really emphasize with them is, it's going to be tough enough to win games against any team on our schedule, but if we have that degree of self-inflicted elements: the turnovers, the unforced, kind of hurried, disjointed possessions and an empty possession means no shot on the rim, no opportunity to get fouled, no opportunity to get a second shot. If it's a live ball turnover, they're going the other way, like there was one that someone threw right at our bench, but it's out of bounds and all we can do is set our defense.
 
On the UCSD defense…
We talked about how they swarm the post really well. They swarm even on the perimeter to high post catch.
 
On the upcoming weeks…
In a couple days they get home for Christmas, and then it's a quick turn around with two practices, and then we go play Grand Canyon, which will be another great test. And then we get ready for the fresh start, kind of a reset that conference play brings. Nine injuries, which has affected our depth, the kind of musical chairs of guys coming back after having been out. That has also, I think, effected our rhythm as we tried to kind of build some momentum and played a more cohesive brand of basketball. But, there are players that are getting better, that are contributing and there's going to be a point in the season where we have a breakthrough and we start to see the results that we prefer to have.
 
Sophomore Guard Joey Chamma
On the flow of the game…
I feel like the unit we had out there, we just, we stay ready. We're well-prepared throughout practice and stuff like that. We just fight with an edge, you know, so we just come out ready, seize the opportunity, push in transition, box out, get stops. I think that led to a little break.
 
On staying mentally locked in…
I think that's a huge factor in losing. But, I think our confidence remains from practice. You know, the only way to get confidence on the court is from practicing off the court, and we just stay at it. We're locked in. We know what we're capable of, I mean, it sucks because we know we're right there, from turning that corner, five, six, very winnable games we've lost maybe the last 10 minutes of the game, we gave up, but we know for those 30 minutes we're a really good team. I think we've shown it these past 10 games, even against top-25 schools, these big high major schools, we show what we're capable of, and we're right there. We have the guys, we're well coached, we have some really good plays that can get people open. I think just for us, we just need to be engaged the whole 40 minutes. We've been lackadaisical the last 10-15, minutes. I think we just need to stay ready and just stay positive too. Because I think when stuff doesn't go our way, we tend to drag our heads down. I think we just need to stay ready and high headed.
 
Sophomore Forward Santiago Trouet
On the flow of the game…
I think we would have had a better chance of winning the game if, when we had that stretch in the second half, we would have bought more into the defense, because we were scoring, and they just kept hitting threes in our faces. I think defense was the main thing.
 
On UCSD's resiliency…
I think that comes with experience. That's a disadvantage we have. We have a lot of young guys, probably one of the youngest teams in the country. I think the main thing is experience. But hopefully as we keep stacking games and games, we'll get better. We'll get the young guys going.
 
On staying positive…
No, I think we're doing well in that. Actually, this last week was our best week of practice. We did a lot of new things; some guys were stepping up as leaders. So yeah, last week was very good. And hopefully when we come back from Christmas, it'll be even better.
 
On recording a career high 20 rebounds…
I think the ball was finding me. I was finding the ball. It was, it was kind of crazy. I wasn't looking at how many I had. But rebounding is something I take pride in.