USD Has Good Time During, After Easy Victory
Things got a little silly in the University of San Diego locker room after Thursday night’s game with Portland.
Those things happen when the home team carries a 20-plus lead for the last 11 minutes 40 seconds as USD did in front of 1,837 at its Sports Center.
The final was USD 76, Portland 55.
It wasn’t that close. Portland scored the last seven points and 11 of the last 15 as USD Coach Hank Egan emptied his bench for the final three minutes.
As if the Toreros needed more reason to celebrate, it was also Geoff Probst’s 20th birthday. Probst, who is red-shirting, was promptly and forcefully led to the showers in his streets clothes.
Portland was sentenced to the showers much earlier.
USD led by 10 at the half, by 22 with 10:00 remaining and by 28 with 4:05 left.
With 13:00 remaining and USD leading, 48-31, there was a wet spot on the court after three players collided and hit the floor. Symbolically, all the towels used to wipe it up were thrown in from the Portland bench.
“They pretty much manhandled us,” Portland Coach Larry Steele said. “All things being equal, if it’s going to come down to a shoving match as it did tonight, we’re going to lose. We’re not quite that size.”
In the shoving areas--rebounds and inside baskets--USD dominated. The Toreros outrebounded Portland, 45-33 (23-10 in the first half). USD had 17 baskets inside, Portland just four.
John Jerome led all scorers with 25 points and made 11 of 13 free throws. He also had a career-high 13 rebounds.
Pat Holbert continued his hot shooting, making four of five three-pointers and finishing with 18 points. He has now made 30 of 53 three-pointers on the year.
Craig Cottrell added 12 points, 10 in the first half to lead all scorers as USD took a 35-25 lead.
Point guard Wayman Strickland did not score but had had nine assists and seven rebounds.
The victory was USD’s sixth in nine games as it improved to 9-10 and 4-3 in the West Coast Conference. USD, which entered tied for second in the WCC with Portland, St. Mary’s, San Francisco and Pepperdine, moved into second alone.
Loyola Marymount, which defeated St. Mary’s, 150-119, is in first at 7-0. Pepperdine and San Francisco were idle.
Portland, which had been playing well in the conference, fell to 3-14, 3-4.
“We didn’t take these guys lightly,” Cottrell said. “You’ve got to respect everybody. These guys beat Pepperdine twice, so they’ve got some talent.”
USD showed its talent is starting come together nicely.
After falling behind early, 10-6, USD scored the next 13 points. It had second-half runs of seven, nine, seven and six points.
Portland, on the other hand, had three extended dry spells. It went 5:52 without scoring in the first half and 5:41 early in the second half. It also had went nearly five minutes without a field goal midway through the second half.
USD had just two turnovers in the first half and seven for the game.
“We were awfully efficient,” Egan said.
Said Jerome, “We played really hard defensively. We were helping out each other more than any game I can remember.”
That tenacious defense limited Portland to 28% shooting (14 of 50) from the field. Josh Lowery, a former San Diego State guard, had 16 to lead the Pilots.