Youthful USD Prevails Over Brown, 74-54 : Toreros’ Game Effort Overcomes Mistakes as Team Reaches .500 Level

Kids’ Night isn’t on the University of San Diego’s promotional calendar this season, but USD and Brown staged one of their own anyway Monday at the USD Sports Center.

There were no door prizes, but there were plenty of giveaways on the court as USD’s young team defeated an equally young Bruin squad, 74-54, to even its record at 4-4 in front of 818 fans.

As far as entertainment value goes, this one had plenty, especially if you like wild passes, on-the-floor scrambles and tricky dribbling.

Each team committed 19 turnovers, but that’s to be expected, considering each team fielded only two seniors and 10 freshmen played.

“I think it’s that time of year,” USD Coach Hank Egan said. “We have a lot of youth on this ballclub, and we’re trying to do a lot of things.”

The Toreros’ biggest problem seemed to be when to attack and when not to. In some situations, they’d force a play when it wasn’t there, and other times they wouldn’t try it when they had the advantage.

But desire and hustle often can make up for inexperience and on this night, USD seemed to want it more.

The Toreros shot just 38% from the floor in the first half and Brown (3-3) shot 60%. But USD outrebounded the Bruins, 22-14, and managed a 35-30 lead.

“If we’re shooting 60% at halftime, we’re supposed to be up by, not behind,” Brown Coach Mike Cingiser said. “To me, that was the key to the game.”

At the opening of the second half, USD went cold, scoring only two baskets in five minutes. However, the Toreros’ zone defense stifled Brown, and the visitors were unable to score a point until nearly 5 1/2 minutes had elapsed.

By the time Brown finally scored its first field goal, at the 13:16 mark, USD led, 45-34. Brown missed its first 10 shots from the field and wound up only 6 for 28 in the second half.

Marty Munn, one of the seniors, sparked the USD offense with 13 second-half points and finished with a game-high 22. Jim Pelton had 11 and Danny Means and Efrem Leonard each had 10.

Marcus Thompson led Brown with 18 points, but the Bruins were held far below their season average of more than 86 points per game.

“We’ve got a lot of things to sort out,” Egan said. “But we’re becoming more efficient all the time.”