Versatile Woods Gets USD Going

Kelvin Woods had zero points--his one shot was blocked--and just two rebounds in the first half Thursday night against Western Kentucky.

But Woods felt he had a great half. After all, the 6-foot-5 sophomore forward was instructed to play defense against the Hilltoppers’ Jerry Anderson. And that he did, holding WKU’s best front-line player to no points and just two rebounds in the first half.

In the second, Woods turned on his offensive game and sparked USD to a 72-66 victory in front of 522 at the USD Sports Center.

Woods had 14 points and five rebounds in the final 20 minutes. His counterpart, Anderson, had two points, three rebounds and fouled out with 44 seconds left.

“I felt if I did more than him, I did my job,” Woods said.

If USD (4-7) should happen to turn its poor start into a successful season, it can look to Thursday’s game as a marker. More precisely, it can turn to a point with 3:54 left.

Holding a slim, 60-57 lead, John Jerome took a pass at the low post from Randy Thompson. Jerome, the Toreros’ leading scorer averaging 19.8 entering, turned and looked for an easy layup. He instead shoveled a pass to Woods, who had an even easier one.

The next two times down, Jerome made a layup off a nice assist from Gylan Dottin, then a 12-foot fade (assist Thompson), and USD was on its way to what Woods described as, “The first time we’ve played really good team ball in a while.”

For two months, Egan had preached and warned about players “going solo” down the stretch. USD stayed together against WKU (3-7).

USD made its final 11 free throws and finished 27 for 34 (79.4%), including 24 of 29 (82.8%) in the second half. It made 11 of 20 (55%) field goals in both halfs.

WKU relied mostly on three-pointers. Of its 66 points, half came on 11 three-pointers. Anthony Palm made five of six in the second half to lead the Hilltoppers with 17 points. Roland Shelton made two in the first half and finished with 13 points.

Jerome led USD with 20 points and tied Woods for the rebounding lead with eight.

USD was in control until the Hilltoppers ran off 13 points to take a 52-51 lead with 6:40 left.

Enter Woods, who quickly erased that with a driving layup. Earlier Woods had scored eight in a row to give the Toreros a 42-32 lead with 12:10 left.