STOCKTON, Calif. – USD men's basketball dropped a 77-70 decision at Pacific on Saturday evening, splitting the season series with the NET No. 126 Tigers.
 
Junior guard Ty-Laur Johnson led the Toreros in scoring again, tallying 19 in the Alex G. Spanos Center to go with seven rebounds and seven assists. Despite holding Pacific's Elias Ralph – who entered the game averaging 18.2 points in WCC contests – to six points, USD was overwhelmed by TJ Wainwright's volume as he scored a game-high 25 points, going 5-14 from three.
 
The Toreros started the game with terrific one-on-one defense, leading to a 10-0 run over a five-minute span. Later, San Diego would go on another hot streak to find itself up 34-24 at the half.
 
USD kept the pressure on to start the second half, extending its lead to as much as 17 less than three minutes into the period.
 
Pacific would start to chip away, however. First, on a 14-3 run that cut the deficit to just six. After a brief stand by the Toreros, things went cold. The Tigers went on an 18-2 run to take the lead at 63-62 with over three minutes to go.
 
The hosts got the job done by getting to the free throw line – 24 times in the second half as opposed to the first – while USD struggled to get in the bonus. Wainwright came from outside while Tigers found success inside with points in the paint, while USD couldn't get any field goals to go in a stretch of over five minutes.
 
It cumulated in Pacific holding out for a 77-70 final score, avoiding being swept by the Toreros after the latter came out on top less than two weeks ago in the Jenny Craig Pavilion.
 
Up Next
The Toreros have another road test in front of them, facing Seattle U for the first time as WCC opponents and first time in 46 years on Thursday, Jan. 15 at 7 p.m. The Redhawks had a hot start to the season, but are 1-4 thus far in their maiden WCC voyage.