SAN DIEGO – The University of San Diego men's basketball team rallied from down 12 points in the first half and 77-78 late, to finish its regular-season schedule on a high note in the form of a rousing 82-80 victory over Portland on Senior Night Saturday inside the Jenny Craig Pavilion.
 
Behind senior guard Kody Clouet's career and game-high 35 points on 8-10 3-point shooting, USD improved to 5-26 overall and 2-16 in the West Coast Conference (WCC). The graduate student and local product out of San Marcos knocked down a career-high eight three-pointers on 10 attempts, added three steals, and defended the Pilots' Austin Rapp on his potential game-tying layup at the death to preserve an emotional victory.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• San Diego faced its biggest deficit of the night at 12 when Vukasin Masic made two free throws for 38-26 with 3:27 left in the first half. The Toreros then caught fire from deep as Clouet hit a pair before fellow senior Deven Dahlke connected on his second of the period to cut the margin down to five by the break, 44-39. Dahlke's initial three had accounted for USD's first points of the evening.
• In the second half, USD pulled to within one at 51-50 on a Clouet three, only for Masic to answer with a triple of his own just ahead of the first media timeout. Later, sophomore David Simon drilled a three-pointer at the 13:05 mark to give the home side its first lead since 13-11.
• USD maintained its advantage, in fact growing it to as many as eight at 69-61 with 8:17 to go on a fast-break driving layup by Dahlke. Portland slowly clawed its way back into it and took one last lead at 78-77 with only 95 ticks left.
• Head coach Steve Lavin called his full timeout and drew up a decisive, winning play, as Clouet handed off to Tony Duckett while screening, and the true freshman did the rest, not making a mistake on his driving lay-in attempt for 79-78 with 33 seconds remaining.
• Clouet made two free throws for 81-78, before Joey Chammaa split his to give the visitors a final hope at 82-80. The Pilots were out of timeouts, and Clouet did all he could to force Rapp into a tough, driving lay-up down the left flank. Chris Austin's tip-in attempt was denied by the front of the rim, and the clock finally expired as USD celebrated a much-needed and much-deserved first triumph since Dec. 30 versus Pacific.

 
TORERO TIDBITS

• Clouet's 35 points and eight three-point makes were both season highs for a Torero. The only other 30-piece was Duckett's 31-point outburst at LMU on Jan. 18. Clouet's previous season highs were 19 points twice, and four made triples on three occasions.
• Clouet's 35 points are tied for the sixth-best single-game output by a Torero all-time, matching Doug Harris' total from Feb. 28, 1995, against Cal State Northridge. It was the most points by a USD student-athlete since Eric Williams Jr.'s school-record 43 in an overtime defeat to Utah State in the same building on Nov. 17, 2022. 
• Clouet's eight three-pointers tied for No. 2 on the program's single-game list with all-time leading scorer Johnny Dee, Ross DeRogatis (twice) and Mark Manor, one shy of matching PJ Hayes' nine (9-for-14) in a 33-point effort, ironically at Portland, last season on Jan. 23, 2024. That night, the Toreros erased a 14-point deficit to win another thriller, 85-81.
• Clouet had previous collegiate highs of 33 last year while at Southeastern Oklahoma State (also 31 and 30-point performances) and 30 at now-closed University of St. Katherine in San Marcos. He twice hit seven triples, including in that 33-pointer for SE OKST against Ouachita Baptist on Feb. 22, 2024. 
• Dahlke, Duckett and senior big man Steven Jamerson II joined Clouet in double-figure scoring, all at 10-points apiece. Duckett added a game and career-high seven assists, having twice previously dished out five helpers. The Carlsbad native now has 24 assists over the last six contests. Dahlke led all players with his career-high four steals. Jamerson II had a team-best seven rebounds and shared the game high of two blocked shots.
• USD committed single-digit turnovers, seven, for the fourth time this season, while forcing Portland into 13 miscues. Dahlke did not turn the ball over in his 34:37, while adding five assists to his stellar final night in home confines. 
• The Torero bench outscored that of Portland by a dominant final tally of 27-3. Duckett (10) and Simon (nine) led that charge with the latter an efficient 4-for-5 from the field while knocking down his lone three-point attempt, grabbing four boards and blocking a shot. In fact, Duckett and Simon led all players on the night in plus/minus at +14 and +13, respectively.
• Portland had taken the season's first meeting between the sides at home back on Jan. 23 by the final score of 92-82. The Toreros maintain the upper hand in the all-time series, 62-37, and have now won two straight and five of the past six matchups inside the Jenny Craig Pavilion going back through the 2018-19 campaign. USD swept last year's pair. 
• Five outstanding Torero seniors were recognized prior to tip-off, in Clouet, Dahlke, Jamerson II, Dominic Muncey and Bendji Pierre.
• Lavin's starting five was made up of exactly those five seniors, for a nation-leading 17th different starting lineup combination used by the veteran head coach for this campaign. 

POSTGAME QUOTES

Graduate Guard Kody Clouet

On his career high 35-point scoring night…

So happy we got the win. It's been a while, but I was telling the guys earlier, we started conference off with a win, so we might as well end it with a win. We're just all super happy and have great momentum going into the conference tournament. 

On what went well offensively…

I think we showed it a lot in that Washington State game last time. We get down, but this team shows no no stopping. We always fight back. We just find a rhythm and we can put up a lot of points.

On taking the court with his fellow seniors one last time in the JCP…

That was special. I just got here this year, but those guys are my brothers and I feel like we're really connected. So it was really awesome that coach (Lavin) let us all go out there together. 

On looking ahead to the WCC tournament…

It's March. We're 1-0 in March, and this is the most fun time of the year, so I'm excited just to get to the postseason and see what happens.

Head Coach Steve Lavin

Opening statement…

Number one, I just couldn't be more pleased for our team to get a win. We've been in the desert, as we say, in terms of getting back to the winner's circle, but it's a group that comes to every practice and comes to every game with a great mindset and attitude. They care about one another, they work hard, and we've been in nearly every game this year. We fight back as well as any team I've coached, but we haven't been able to punch through. And tonight is significant because it's senior night, and we're also in March. We're 1-0 in the month of March, and we're headed over to Vegas to play in that West Coast Conference tournament. But to close out conference play with a win is important, to do it in March, as we carry this momentum over to the West Coast Conference tournament.

On Kody Clouet's career night…

Kody's emblematic of our team, in terms of that he's overcome adversity. He had a back injury that he's battled through and shown a lot of grit. As you know, backs and back injuries make it very difficult, and for an athlete even more so, and so he's finding his rhythm and starting to really string together some impressive shooting performances, and we're a different team when we shoot the ball well from the perimeter. It opens up lanes for us to be able to drive the ball downhill, it also creates better space and more time for our bigs on their post catches, because teams then have to pick their poison in terms of helping in the post, whether you give up the three or if you tag that three, our bigs are going to be able to go to work down low. Kody's poise and maturity, like a great older brother, has been a real asset. In particular in a season where things aren't going well. Sport in its purest forms, I told the players after the game, is a metaphor for life, and I think our guys have really demonstrated important virtues and values. We're not into moral victories by any means, we want to win. We're very competitive in terms of our mindset. But sometimes in life things don't go your way, and how you respond says a lot about your character, and we've got high character kids in our program, and that's our foundation as we move forward. 

On contributions from Dahlke, Simon, and Duckett…

There were so many contributors, Devin Dahlke was outstanding, but to get that lift from David Simon at both ends of the court, his presence was felt and made some big baskets, gathered himself well in terms of keeping his balance on that lob play, came down with it and got to the other side of the rim for an important layup in a crucial stretch the game. Tony gets downhill well off the bounce. He's also got terrific mid range game, he's a threat from behind the three point line, and a 90% free throw shooter. He's really coming on and maturing, in particular with his decision making and the poise and judgment when it's shot selection, that's something he's worked on, not forcing shots. He can get shots up in a hurry, he's a microwave, and I want him to be aggressive, but to also show good judgment and to play with purpose. Then defensively he's playing with more tenacity. Earlier in the year, some teams or opponents were picking on him, whether it was posting him up or putting him into ball screens, and now he's dictating more defensively by being aggressive.

On celebrating five seniors tonight…

As we talk about the seniors, one that I want to highlight right now is Devin Dahlke. 10 points tonight, five assists, zero turnovers, four steals, he was a game changer. Again, just so many significant contributors. Our seniors are going to earn their degrees, they care about one another,  they love this university, they represent this university in a first class manner. They're not perfect. They're 18 to 22 year olds, but I couldn't be more pleased of the way this group represents the University of San Diego and our men's basketball program, both on the court and off the court. There's a lot of things that casual fans may not be aware of in terms of charitable activities. Service is an important value of this university, it's a Catholic school with Catholic values. Our players working with young people, working with people that have disabilities, there are some things that really touched the heart. As a head coach, just like a parent or a teacher, you're most proud of your players' development, not just as athletes, but as human beings. And our kids have a lot of compassion for one another, and for other people that are going through challenging situations. Again drawing on that parallel, that analogy of how in sports struggle is often where the growth is. And I think this team has grown as young men and as a team.

On looking ahead to the WCC Tournament…

It's a reset. Championship week is about everyone going back to 0-0. If you won 30 games or you lost 30 games, everyone goes back to 0-0. You're given a certain number of days depending on the size of your conference. Four or five days in Las Vegas, and if you could string together some wins, suddenly you have an opportunity to punch your ticket and go to the NCAA tournament. Now, with the season we've had, we are not going to be a favorite. No one's expecting us to go in there. The odds makers wouldn't have USD as a team that could win the West Coast Conference tournament, but we believe in one another which is more important. We've demonstrated that we can play with everyone in this conference, other than maybe St. Mary's who really took us to the woodshed and dominated us, but they've done that to a number of teams, so that's nothing to hang your head over. It just speaks to how good St. Mary's is, but we'd like another opportunity to play them. Gonzaga we played tough, Oregon State we played tough, Washington State we played tough, Santa Clara we played tough, it was a tie game inside of three minutes here early in conference play, and we had an opportunity to beat them. So our group has great reference points, and they're aware that we've been competitive with every team in conference play. We've been a little bit of the "heartbreak kids", but again, through that struggle I think we've developed some toughness and some understanding of what goes into winning, and sometimes you have to struggle before you get to a place where you're consistent enough to punch through, and tonight we were able to do that against Portland. 

NEXT UP
The Toreros will next head to Las Vegas, Nev., for the 2025 Credit Union 1 WCC Basketball Championship, which begins this coming Thursday, March 6. As the No. 11 seed, USD will tip off the tournament inside the Orleans Arena against 10th-seeded Pacific in the first round that afternoon at 2:30 p.m. The survivor of the matchup would get seventh-seeded LMU in primetime at 8:30 p.m. on Friday, March 7. Streaming coverage will be provided through ESPN+. Live video and live statistics links can be found on the team's website.