LOS ANGELES — San Diego men's basketball (16-14, 6-9 WCC) on Thursday night held an early six-point lead and trailed by only four at the intermission but could not withstand a second-half surge from Loyola Marymount (12-17, 5-10 WCC), suffering a 96-62 loss at the Gersten Pavilion after being outscored 60-30 in the final period.

The Toreros allowed runs of 10-0, 13-3 and 22-5 against the Lions.

Freshman forward Jimmy Oladokun Jr. recorded a career-high 20 points as the Toreros fell in their final regular-season road contest of the 2023-2024 season.

It marked the first 20-point game of Oladokun Jr.'s young collegiate career as freshman guard Kevin Patton Jr. and junior guard Deuce Turner each added 14 points. 

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Junior Guard Deuce Turner scored his team's first points on their opening possession on a jumper in the lane. 
• LMU's Dominick Harris scored the first seven points as the Lions led 7-6 through the first four minutes of action. 
• USD took its first lead of the game on a three-point basket by Patton Jr. with the assist from junior guard Wayne McKinney III to take a 9-7 lead with 15:01 left in the first half. McKinney III played just seven minutes at No. 18 Saint Mary's on February 24 due to a lower leg injury.  
• The Lions then went on a 7-0 run, lasting more than two and a half minutes before Oladokun Jr. made a layup to end the streak. 
• During the second media timeout on Thursday evening, LMU led 17-13 with 10:12 remaining in the opening half. 
• San Diego went on a 7-0 run of its own as senior guard Devin Dahlke made a three-pointer to regain the lead, 18-17 with 9:47 left. 
• Both teams were all square at 20-20 with 7:33 left. USD was able to increase it's shooting percentage up to 36.4% as Oladokun Jr. recorded an early six points to lead the Toreros. 
• Patton Jr. gave USD a 28-24 lead with a three at the 5:17 mark in the first half, forcing a timeout from the Lions.
• With 1:45 left, LMU made a couple of baskets to take a 33-32 lead at the final media timeout of the first half. 
• Those points led to an 8-0 LMU run that lasted the final 2:48 of the first half to take a 36-32 lead. 
• At the break, Patton Jr. had a team-high 12 points and two rebounds, Oladokun Jr. had eight points and four rebounds on 4-of-7 shooting. Despite being outrebounded 23-15 in the first half, USD scored seven points of eight LMU turnovers, while USD only committed one turnover during the first 20 minutes. 
• LMU opened the second half on a three-pointer to extend its run to 11-0 from the first half before junior guard PJ Hayes ended that run with a three of his own to pull back within four at 39-35 with 19:14 to go.
• However, Loyola Marymount went on a 10-0 run over 2:38 to lead 49-35 with 15:58 left. 
• USD stopped the big run with a layup by Oladokun at the 15:16 mark of the second mark, cutting the lead down to 51-37 with 15:19 left. 
• San Diego's second-half struggles continued as they trailed 68-40 with 11:39 left. USD was outscored 32-8 in the first 8:21 of the second half as they were limited to 3-of-17 (17%) from the floor and 1-of-6 from three-point range. 
• The Lions went on another run to extend its lead to 31, 83-52 with 7:57 left as Turner ended another Lions' 10-0 run with a three pointer to reach 14 points on the evening. 
• San Diego's deficit reached 35 points at the final media timeout, 93-58 with 3:36 remaining. 
• The Toreros made three field goals over the final 3:36 to suffer the 34-point loss. 

NOTABLE:

• Freshman center Jimmy Oladukun Jr. recorded a career-high 20 points.
• Oladokun Jr. was one of four players with a blocked shot, along with Dahlke, junior guard Dominic Muncey and freshman guard Keyon Kensie. The four blocked shots maintain USD's 3.79 block per game average, which ranks third in the WCC
• Freshman guard Kevin Patton Jr.'s 14 points mark his third double-digit scoring effort in his last four games and his 12th double-digit scoring performance this season. 
• Thursday night's 14-point performance marked the seventh consecutive game in which Turner has scored in double figures.
• San Diego recorded a season-low five turnovers. 
• USD shot 31% (22-of-71) compared to LMU shooting 58% (31-of-53) from the floor. 
• The Toreros were also limited to 24% shooting from three point range, their sixth-lowest mark of the season. 

UP NEXT 
The Toreros are back in action on Saturday night, when they return to the Jenny Craig Pavilion to host Pacific in what will mark their final regular-season game of the 2023-2024 season.

Tip-off against the Tigers is set for 7:00 p.m.