Woods Helps USD Earn a City Title : * College basketball: Toreros carve out a 60-57 victory over SDSU, beating the Aztecs for the fifth time in six years.

The University of San Diego won the city basketball championship over San Diego State Friday, 60-57. Crown them for the fifth time in six years.

Bragging rights may be another story. In a game where baskets sometimes seemed harder to come by than a Democratic presidential hopeful, the Toreros needed every one of Kelvin Woods’ 17 second-half points of his game-high 24 to hold off the Aztecs in front of a Sports Arena crowd of 5,468.

San Diego State scored 21 points in the first half--and was within sight. The Toreros only made five field goals in the second half, shooting 20%. But it was a scrappy, exciting game down the stretch, finally decided when Torero guard Wayman Strickland made two free throws with 13 seconds left for the game’s final margin.

The Toreros, who led by 11 points at the half, won by making their free throws, outscoring the Aztecs at the line, 35-16.

“That was just one of those wars,” USD Coach Hank Egan said. “What I learned is we’ll compete. When we could’ve gone south, we dug in. Our execution went south. So did theirs. Some of it had to do with the way people got after it defensively. Offensively, it was a mess but a lot of that has to do with it being so early (in the season), but it’s not a throw-away game.”

In the season opener for both teams, SDSU looked like as if it might throw away the game in the first half, committing 16 turnovers.

“We changed some things this week and maybe I confused ‘em,” Aztec Coach Jim Brandenburg said of his team. “We were very fragmented. Maybe our checklist was too long.”

USD pulled away to an early 16-point lead, then went dry. The Aztecs steadily whittled the lead in the second half and pulled to within a point at 40-39 when Nelson Stewart converted an inbounds pass with 8:25 left. A few seconds later Joe McNaull made a steal for a breakaway and the Aztecs’ first lead of the game, 41-40.

The game stayed that close most of the final eight minutes. SDSU went up by four points twice down the stretch, but with 4:17 left, the Aztecs’ Ray Barefield, trying to snap a 51-all tie, missed two free throws.

Woods converted a baby hook at the other end to give the Toreros the lead for good. Though SDSU was supposed to be the dominant team inside and 6-foot-10 center Joe McNaull finished with 13 points, Woods, at 6-5, was the game’s key operative around the basket.

And USD outrebounded the Aztecs, 31-29, thanks in large part to the quickness of 6-5 forward Gylan Dottin, a converted guard who led all rebounders with 12, six of them offensive.

“We’re small but we’re a pretty athletic team,” Woods said. “The first half they really cut me off good but I just wouldn’t let it get to me. I know I’m only 6-5 but you play as tall as you think.”

With a grin, he said, “I think I’m 6-9.”

The sloppy first half was played at a relatively brisk tempo, but both teams had trouble scoring. It took USD more than two minutes to break the drought and score the game’s first basket, and the Aztecs needed another minute-plus to get their first points.

The Aztecs also had problems with USD’s pressure and saw their best big men get into early foul trouble. The Aztecs committed 16 turnovers in the half and shot eight of 22 (36%), and USD pulled away to a 28-12 lead. Dottin, who finished with 13 points, provided much of the first-half spark, scoring nine. His three baskets all came off offensive rebounds.

Aztec forward Keith Balzer, trying to come back from knee surgery for tendinitis and obviously rusty, missed a breakaway dunk and drew three fouls by the 9:13 mark. When center Joe McNaull picked up his third foul with 1:28 left in the half, Brandenburg put Balzer back in and saw him pick up his fourth foul with four seconds to play.

However, the Toreros--who had 12 turnovers in the half--got careless with the ball in the final minutes before halftime and the Aztecs outscored them, 9-4, in the closing minutes to pull to within 32-21 at intermission.

Balzar finally fouled out at the halfway point of the second half, and McNaull played the last 5:46 with four fouls.

Much of the Aztecs’ second-half comeback was thanks to point guard Virgil Smith, who finished with 16 points and eight assists.

“I think they had matchup problems with us and we had matchup problems with them,” Egan said.

Brandenburg had another view: “They’re to be congratulated . . . but 35 free throws to 16. Those were (West Coast Conference) officials and I felt they were allowed to play with our guys inside but we weren’t allowed to play with their guys inside.”

Basketball Notes

Aztec freshman guard Bart Brandenburg sat out with shin splints. The team also announced that walk-on Mike Mattarocci, a four-time volleyball letterman, has left the team. . . . A scout from the Seattle SuperSonics watched Friday’s game. . . . USD plays host to the Aztecs in the women’s version of the city championship at 7:30 tonight in the Sports Center. . . . In a preliminary game Friday, the Naval Station beat the Marine Corps Recruit Depot, 93-71. The Naval team got off to a fast start and led at the half, 54-26. Michael Ross led the Navy team with 20 points, followed by Leroy Harris with 18. The Marines’ Barry Celestine led all scorers with 21. . . . Marine Coach Ron Bickerstaff ran into 6-10 Aztec center Joe McNaull at halftime and said, “How can we get you in a Marine uniform?”