SAN DIEGO – Stark contrasts in shooting splits proved a big difference in an 85-73 loss to Santa Clara on Saturday night inside the Jenny Craig Pavilion.
 
The WCC's second-place Broncos, now 8-1 in conference play, shot lights out from start to finish, 63.5% from the field to San Diego's mere 39.4%. A game after hitting a program-best 15 3-pointers, the Toreros made a season-low just three in 23 attempts against Santa Clara.
 
Despite an off-shooting night, USD found silver linings in other aspects of the game against the Quad-2 opponent. The Toreros forced 21 turnovers out of the Broncos and grabbed 17 offensive rebounds against one of the best rebounding teams in the country.
 
The West Coast Conference's scoring and steals leader, San Diego junior Ty-Laur Johnson fronted the Torero effort to start, finishing with 19 points and four swipes, but the Broncos simply would not miss. The Toreros would keep shooting good shots, themselves having 19 more attempted field goals than the guests, but the attempts seemed to bounce off every part of the rim.
 
It was grad guard Adrian McIntyre who returned to form late in the game to cut down a 26-point Santa Clara lead to just 12 by game's end as the Toreros even went on a streak of 10 straight made field goals. McIntyre finished with a season-best 20 points on 8-10 shooting with six rebounds and two steals.
 
Up Next
The Toreros' three-game home stand comes to an end with a 2-1 record as USD will hit the Pacific Coast Highway to face Pepperdine in Malibu on Wednesday, Jan. 28. San Diego drubbed the Waves 83-63 in the reverse fixture on Jan. 8 in the JCP.