MALIBU, Calif. – With their backs to the wall at the Firestone Fieldhouse, USD men's basketball overcame a late second-half deficit to beat Pepperdine in overtime, 92-88 Wednesday night.
 
Trailing by nine points with over four minutes remaining and star point guard Ty-Laur Johnson fouled out of the game, ESPN's computer analytics had San Diego at a 6.3% chance to win.
 
The Toreros had other ideas, however, going on a 9-0 run and even taking the lead late, seeing the game go to overtime. The visitors rode the momentum into OT and never looked back again claiming a road victory out of a game that featured 14 lead changes and seven ties.
 
While five Toreros scored in double figures, two performances stuck out. Grad guard Toneari (season-high 21 points) was clutch for USD, three of his five threes on the night coming in the closing minutes of regulation and in overtime.
 
Not far removed from his triple-double, junior forward Assane Diop had another monster day on the hardwood, going for career-highs 17 rebounds, 21 points (on 9-for-10 field goal shooting, 2-of-2 from three) and two blocks in almost 40 minutes played.
 
A mediocre shooting night on both sides was edged by San Diego's near-perfect overtime execution in which it went 3-4 from the field, 2-3 from three and 9-10 at the charity stripe while the Waves were just 4-12 on field goals and 1-7 from deep in the extra period.
 
How it Happened

• The hosts got off to an efficient shooting start while Diop had nine of San Diego's first 11 points
• Thereafter, the Toreros would go into a 1-14 field goal lull to fall behind
• USD only trailed by five at half, however, at 38-33
• A burst out of the gates in the second half led by a pair of birthday boy Juanse Gorosito 3-pointers saw San Diego take a brief lead, but fell behind again in another field goal drought
• Pepperdine extended this time to a game-high lead of 10 points with eight minutes remaining
• With 4:42 remaining, the Toreros still trailed by seven, but went on a 9-0 run to take a lead again just outside two minutes remaining
• The teams would exchange blows with both having chances at winners to end regulation, but the second half would come to a close at 75-75
• Momentum, Lane 3-pointers and excellent free-throw shooting down the stretch proved the difference in overtime for the Toreros to pull out the 99-82 win

 
Notable

• It is San Diego's first overtime game since a Dec. 20, 2022, 92-84 win in OT at UC Riverside
• Three Toreros finished in double figure for a third time this season, second in the last three (Assane Diop, 21; Toneari Lane, 21; Ty-Laur Johnson, 16; Adrian McIntyre, 14; Juanse Gorosito, 10)
• USD finished on the plus-end of rebounding over its opponents for the third time in the last four games, scoring 20 second-chance points
• San Diego claims its first win of the season when trailing at halftime, previously 0-10