LAS VEGAS – San Diego men's basketball fell at the wire in the second round of the 2026 CU1 WCC Championship, 58-56 at the hands of Seattle U Friday night in Las Vegas' Orleans Arena.
The eleventh-seeded Toreros exit the conference tournament with a 12-21 record in the 2025-26 season, doubling both the overall and West Coast Conference regular season win total from a season prior.
Friday nights affair was similar to USD's first round, 66-62 win over No. 10 LMU in that the Toreros built a first half lead but saw it worked away at by the higher-seeded team in the second half as shots didn't fall at as high of a rate. This time, however, San Diego was on the wrong end of the contest that came down to the final moments.
Junior forward
Vuk Boskovic had a look at a go-ahead 3-pointer with just seconds remaining but couldn't get it to go. The Serbian led the USD scoring contingent with 14 points while redshirt-freshman
Gavin Ripp scored in double figures for the third time in his career in as many games – adding five assists – and grad guard
Toneari Lane played a full 40 minutes for a second consecutive night and finished with double-digit points. Junior forward Assane Driop grabbed 11 rebounds.
San Diego shot 52% from the field in the first half against one of the conference's strongest defensive sides but were limited to 26% in the second half. On the other end, the Toreros held the Redhawks to 41.2% overall from the field and just 14.3% from three, out-rebounding Seattle U. USD also limited the Redhawks' leading scorer and All-WCC honoree Brayden Maldonado to just two points. Both teams led by a maximum of eight at times in the game.
How it Happened
- The Toreros ran out their 11th different starting lineup of the season
- Seattle U went out front at first with success in the paint, but San Diego went out front on a 10-run, spacing the floor to create 3-pointers and open lay ups
- The points were harder earned for the Toreros late in the half – including a pair of end-of-shot-clock threes – while Seattle U cruised to the basket, seeing the USD dwindle to five at the half, 35-30
- The strong shooting first half didn't carry over to the second for San Diego, similar to the night before, as USD went on a 0-9 field goal stretch, leading to a 13-1 Redhawk kill shot and lead reclamation eight minutes into the second half
- San Diego finally responded with an 8-0 run of their own to tie the game, punctuated with a Juanse Gorosito steal and transition three
- The game would come down to the final seconds again, as the Toreros got two looks at game-tying and winning shots, but couldn't get either to go, including Boskovic's three that hit the front rim as time expired
