Torero Shooters Don’t Horse Around, Easily Top Santa Clara, 80-61

At the beginning of the season, the guards on the University of San Diego basketball team played a game of H-O-R-S-E using only shots from the three-point range.

“It lasted about an hour,” USD guard Paul Leonard said. “The coach was sitting on the sideline in amazement. We all shoot the ball well.”

You can say that again.

Saturday night, the Toreros shot 61.9% from the field and made 7 of 12 three-point attempts to easily defeat Santa Clara, 80-61, in a West Coast Athletic Conference game played in front of 3,368 fans in Toso Pavilion.

Forward Mark Manor was 5 for 5 on three-pointers and scored a season-high 17 points. Leonard hit 7 of 9 from the field, including two three-pointers, for 17 points. He added 9 assists.

Center Scott Thompson had 12 points and 9 rebounds, forward Nils Madden scored 11 and reserve center Steve Krallman added 9.

Saturday was the second straight night that the Toreros shot well. They shot 60.9% in a 77-74 victory over the University of San Francisco Friday night.

The two conference road victories give the first-place Toreros a 5-1 WCAC record, a half-game ahead of Gonzaga (4-1). USD lost to Gonzaga on the road and will play it at home Feb. 19. All the other teams in the WCAC have at least three defeats.

USD has won three of four conference road games. It plays five of its remaining eight conference games at home, where it is 7-0. USD has won nine of its last 10 and is 14-4, which is its best start since joining Division I in 1979.

“We sure killed it (three-point shot) tonight,” said USD Coach Hank Egan, who admitted he was a little apprehensive about the three-point shot when the season started. “This job is tough enough without implementing something new each season.”

Last season, it was the 45-second clock. This season, it’s the shot from 19 feet 9 inches and beyond.

“The key element is that the players feel good about the shot,” Egan said.

They love it. And Santa Clara could not stop it.

USD crushed Santa Clara, 73-51, Jan. 15. The Toreros shot only 51.1% from the field in that game.

“The Santa Clara defense seems to back up to keep the ball out of Scott’s (Thompson) hands,” said Manor, who was shooting so well that Santa Clara switched to a box-and-one defense to try to stop him from the left wing.

Manor scored 14 of his 17 points in a tight first half. USD only led by two, 36-34, at halftime.

What did Egan tell his team during intermission?

“Not a whole bunch,” Egan said. “We just tried to straighten out like we did last night (against USF). We came out in a zone and took away a lot of their (Santa Clara’s) inside game.”

After shooting 56.5% from the field in the first half, USD hit 68.4% (13 of 19) in the second half.

USD outscored Santa Clara, 18-7, in the opening 5 1/2 minutes of the second half to take a commanding 54-41 lead. Santa Clara closed to within 11 points three times, but that was the closest it got.

Santa Clara was 9-2 at home entering Saturday night’s game, but it shot only 35.3% from the field and was forced to play without starting center Dan Weiss, who sprained his ankle against St. Mary’s Friday night.

Guard Chris Lane had 16 points and forward Brian Moody added 15 for a Bronco team that shot only 24% from the field in the second half.