Brovelli’s Old Recruits Come Back to Beat Him

Jim Brovelli always could get the University of San Diego basketball team fired up.

Playing against their former coach, the Toreros defeated Brovelli’s University of San Francisco team, 67-59, in a West Coast Athletic Conference game Saturday night in front of 2,860 at Memorial Gym.

“We all really wanted to beat him pretty bad,” said USD forward Nils Madden, a freshman on Brovelli’s 1984 WCAC championship team at USD. “Scott (Thompson) and Mark (Bostic), who started on that championship team, were really pumped up. I was a freshman that year, so this was a big chance for me to prove to him (Brovelli) I could play.”

The seven Toreros who were recruited by Brovelli were outscored by the entire USF team by only one point, 59-58.

Guard Pete Murphy, who didn’t play for Brovelli, but was recruited by assistant coach Dave Babcock when Brovelli was at USD, scored a game-high 18 points and added 11 rebounds.

Madden had 16 points and 12 rebounds, Steve Krallman came off the bench to hit 8 of 9 free throws and score 10 points, Thompson had 6 points and 6 rebounds, and Bostic and Eric Musselman had 4 points each.

The final score was deceptive because the Toreros cleared their bench when they took a 24-point lead with 6 minutes to play.

“We were a step behind all night,” Brovelli said. “We had a great emotional high last night (a 72-69 win over St. Mary’s) and we came out really flat. USD played better and deserved to win.”

It was a night filled with emotion for Brovelli, who coached at USD for 11 seasons before taking over the revamped basketball program at USF.

“It was hard playing against them,” Brovelli said. “We were a very close team the year we won it. There was tremendous chemistry on that team and we’re still close. I’m happy they are doing well.”

It was also a night of firsts for USD:

--It was the first time the Toreros had beaten the Dons in eight meetings. Therefore, Brovelli is 0-8 in this rivalry.

--The Toreros (1-1, 11-5) won their first WCAC game of the season after dropping a 55-53 heartbreaker at Santa Clara Friday night.

“Last night was a slap in the face,” USD Coach Hank Egan said. “Tonight we came out ready to play. A lot of times it’s the way the game gets started.”

On Saturday night, the Toreros jumped out to a 30-21 lead at halftime. They outscored the Dons, 20-9, in the first 10 minutes to take a commanding lead.

“On Friday, Santa Clara took away a lot of things we like to do offensively,” Murphy said. “We worked on those things Saturday morning and we had a lot more movement in the game.”

Bostic, starting in place of Mark Manor at forward, made his first start since the second game of the season.

“I thought he played very well against Santa Clara,” Egan said. “He played especially well on defense and I thought he earned a starting spot.”

USD was quicker, more aggressive on the offensive boards and more intense Saturday night. Their rebounding aggressiveness was reflected in the 31 fouls shots they attempted. USD hit 25 from the line, which included 21 of 27 in the second half. The Dons (1-1, 6-10) were only 9 of 15 from the line.

Defensively, the Toreros continually hounded USF, which shot 38% from the floor. Guard Mike D’Aloisio was the only Don in double figures with 12.

“I thought USF might run the same plays Brovelli taught us at USD,” Madden said, “but they didn’t.”

USF is a new team and a new challenge for Brovelli, but he still takes pride in his guys at USD.

“By their junior year,” Brovelli said, “I knew they’d be a strong team.”

On Saturday night, Murphy, Madden, Thompson, Bostic, Krallman and Musselman showed Brovelli just how good a recruiter and teacher he was.