Bostic Shows What He Can Do in USD Win

The up-again, down-again saga of University of San Diego senior forward Mark Bostic continued Saturday night at the USD Sports Center.

And Bostic, who at times this season has brought fans out of their seats and at other times has simply remained seated, was on an up against the St. Mary’s Gaels.

Playing on his 23rd birthday, Bostic came off the bench to score 16 points--13 in the second half--to lead USD to a 70-61 win over St. Mary’s in front of 1,742 fans.

The victory snapped a three-game losing streak and improved USD’s record to 5-4 in the West Coast Athletic Conference, 15-8 overall. St. Mary’s fell to 2-7 in conference, 9-13 overall.

“I know sometimes he doesn’t believe it, but I would love for Mark to finish out his senior year in style,” USD Coach Hank Egan said. “I’ve always appreciated his athletic talents.”

Sometimes this season, however, Egan has less than appreciated Bostic’s overall play. The two had a disagreement following last Friday’s 67-59 loss to Loyola and Egan benched Bostic last Saturday night when USD faced Pepperdine.

“I was a little worried about when I would play (against St. Mary’s) but once I got in there, I was confident,” Bostic said. “It was a blue-collar type game and I know what I do best is take the ball to the hole.”

Bostic’s ability to penetrate, which has resulted in some poor shot selections this season and ultimately led to some problems with Egan, turned out to be a key factor in USD rallying from a 33-26 halftime deficit Saturday night.

His driving layup with eight minutes to go put USD ahead to stay, 50-49. And, down the stretch, Bostic came up with some important rebounds to keep the Toreros in the lead. He finished the game with a resounding dunk at the buzzer.

“I was going a little too fast on that one and I might have double-dribbled,” said Bostic, laughing. “I guess, since it was my birthday, the officials let me get away with it.”

The non-call proved that when things are going well for Bostic, things go very well.

USD started out slowly. The Toreros scored only one basket in the final eight minutes of the half and committed seven turnovers during that span.

“There weren’t many X’s and O’s at halftime,” Egan said. “My speech was mostly from the heart.”

It worked. Pete Murphy, frustrated by the Gaels’ air-tight man defense against him Saturday, sparked a USD comeback.

With the defense concentrating on him, Murphy turned to the pass and finished with seven assists.

“You have to take whatever is there,” Murphy said. “They were up tight on me but I was able to hit some passes.”

And most of them were to Bostic.

“It was good to see him do well,” Murphy said. “He’s been through some tough times. I don’t know exactly what you would call it.”

Just call it a lot of ups and downs.