SAN DIEGO — Dusty Stromer banked in a 3-pointer at the buzzer to force overtime, and San Diego finished off a comeback from 15 points down to beat Tarleton State 96-90 on Friday night at the Jenny Craig Pavilion.
The Toreros (2-0, 0-0 WCC) trailed the Texans (1-1, 0-0 UAC) for more than 34 of the game's 45 minutes and didn't lead until late in regulation. They outscored TSU 64-44 after halftime to stay unbeaten under first-year head coach JR Blount. It was San Diego's first overtime win since last season's 92-88 victory at Pepperdine on Jan. 28, and its first at the Jenny Craig Pavilion since a 68-63 win over Portland on Jan. 13, 2022.
Meeting San Diego for the first time, Tarleton State made its first four 3-pointers and shot 13-of-20 in the first half, leading by as many as 15. Jevon Hill made three 3-pointers in the half for the Toreros, who trailed 46-32 at the break.
Stromer, who scored all 22 of his points after halftime, opened the second half with a pull-up jumper to start a 10-0 run. Jevon Hill knocked down a 3-pointer and Stromer added three free throws before Marqui Worthy Jr.'s floater cut the deficit to 46-42 with 17:38 left.
The Texans pushed their lead back to 10 at 55-45, but the Toreros kept coming. Jevon Hill and Stromer hit back-to-back 3-pointers off feeds from freshman Chace Holley to pull within 63-61 with 8:49 to go. Davion Hill then made four straight free throws to tie it 66-66 with 7:17 left, the first tie since 6-6 early in the first half.
San Diego finally went in front with 5:41 to play, when Worthy's 3-pointer off a Holley assist made it 71-69. Holley's driving layup broke a 71-71 tie, and Davion Hill's layup pushed the lead to 77-73 with 2:26 left.
A 5-0 run put Tarleton State back ahead 78-77 with 1:18 remaining. Jose Roberto Tanchyn's tip-in returned the lead to San Diego at 79-78 with 43 seconds left, but the Texans answered with a 3-pointer and a free throw for an 82-79 edge with 15 seconds to go.
Two missed Tarleton State free throws with five seconds left gave the Toreros one more chance. Davion Hill grabbed the rebound, and out of a timeout with two seconds on the clock, Stromer took a pass from Tanchyn and banked in a pull-up 3-pointer as time expired to tie it 82-82.
San Diego never trailed in overtime. Stromer's layup off a Tanchyn assist opened the scoring, Holley had six of his 13 points in the extra period, and the Toreros went 10-of-10 at the free-throw line to close it out.
Jevon Hill went 6-of-11 from 3-point range for 18 points, and Davion Hill added 16 points and four assists. Holley finished with 13 points, four assists and three steals off the bench, and Worthy scored 10 to give San Diego five players in double figures.
Tanchyn and Terry McMorris each grabbed nine rebounds to lead the Toreros, with McMorris collecting seven on the offensive end. Tanchyn also had seven points and four assists.
Stromer (12-of-12) and Davion Hill (10-of-10) were perfect at the line as San Diego made 34 of 39 free throws, including 28 of 30 after halftime. The Toreros out-rebounded the Texans 36-31, held an 18-9 edge on the offensive glass and turned 18 Tarleton State turnovers into 20 points.
UP NEXT
San Diego visits Colorado on Tuesday, Nov. 10, at 6 p.m. PT at the CU Events Center. The game will be streamed live on ESPN+.
