USD Puts It Together to Beat Texas Arlington

Efrem Leonard stood leaning against a post in the University of San Diego locker room Tuesday night, waiting his turn, as teammate Marty Munn answered questions from a group of reporters.

Danny Means, who stood behind Leonard, was going to have to wait his turn, too.

There were many questions to be asked and plenty of good candidates around to answer them after USD played its finest game in three weeks and defeated Texas Arlington, 81-64, in front of 1,013 fans at the USD Sports Center.

That makes four straight victories and a 7-4 record for the Toreros, who were supposed to be rebuilding this season after losing four senior starters.

“I don’t know who the people were who thought we were going to struggle, but the guys on this team knew we had the talent to be good this year,” junior forward Mike Haupt said. “We knew it was going to take some time with all of the new players, but we’re starting to put it together.”

That was evident Tuesday night as USD came up with its most impressive performance since a 76-53 victory over San Diego State Dec. 19 in the Sports Arena.

Afterward, the standouts lined up for questioning.

Munn, who led USD with 21 points and hit four consecutive three-pointers during one stretch in the second half, talked about breaking out of a shooting slump. He made 6 of 16 shots against U.S. International Saturday night, but was 5 for 8 from three-point range against Texas Arlington.

“My mother told me if I didn’t start playing better, she was going to put me on a plane back to Salinas,” Munn said, smiling. “I guess that helped me concentrate more.”

Leonard, who made 7 of 8 shots from the field and finished with 17 points, talked about the one shot he missed, a layup during garbage time in the final few minutes.

“I was thinking that I hadn’t missed one,” he said. “But that layup blew it for me.”

Means, who had 13 points and hit 3 of 4 from three-point range, wanted to talk more about the team. He’s the only returning starter from last season.

“We’re finally playing like a team,” he said. “We’ve been playing relaxed lately, just content with winning. But in this game, we really came out and put forth a solid effort.”

USD hit its first five shots from the field and 6 of its first 7, and Texas Arlington was struggling, missing its first eight shots.

USD built a 12-0 lead, and Arlington never got closer than five points.

USD led, 42-30, at halftime after shooting 57% from the floor. Texas Arlington wouldn’t have been that close expect for Willie Brand (17 points) and Ike Mitchell (13), who combined to score all of the Mavericks’ points before the half.

Texas Arlington closed to within 53-44 at the 11:53 mark of the second half, but Means hit two three-pointers and made a steal at the other end as USD reassumed command.

After that, any hopes the Mavericks had of a comeback were put to rest when Munn hit four three-pointers in a three-minute span and gave USD a 76-52 lead with 3:27 left.

Besides the big three, others made contributions to this latest victory. Freshman Randy Thompson tied his career high with eight points, all in the first half, and forward Haupt had a team-high six assists.

“This was a good win for us especially since we’re now going out on the road (for four games),” Means said. “We know we can play like this at home and now we have to prove it on the road.”

USD travels to Colorado and Weber State before opening West Coast Athletic Conference play at Loyola Marymount and Pepperdine next Friday and Saturday.

“Right now, we’re a lot better than a lot of people thought we might be,” USD Coach Hank Egan said.