Experiment Results in Torero Victory : Basketball: Lehigh sits key player and USD uses it to their advantage in a 91-79 victory.

The one who didn’t start may have been as important as the one who did Saturday when the University of San Diego beat Lehigh, 91-79.

USD guard Michael Brown, a recent addition to the starting lineup, paced the Toreros with a career-high 23 points.

Bob Krizansky, a four-year starting forward for Lehigh, was used as a reserve, and one had to wonder if the game might have been closer had he played more in the first half. Krizansky dominated play in the second half, finishing with 26 points in 29 minutes and helping the Engineers make a one-sided game interesting before fouling out.

With the victory, USD’s fourth consecutive, the Toreros improved to 7-3. Lehigh is 4-4.

Brown, starting his second consecutive game, made six of nine shots and was 11 for 14 from the foul line. Wayman Strickland, a reserve who has traded roles with Brown, scored 16 points. Point guard Geoff Probst added a season-high 12 points, making three of four shots, all three-pointers.

“Starting hasn’t really changed my attitude, I’m still trying to contribute and keep the guys going,” Brown said. “When I came off the bench I tried to play hard and I’m still looking to play hard.”

But Toreros Coach Hank Egan said the new look pleased him. “Brown has been very good (starting) and Wayman played very well off the bench,” he said. “It’s nice if he can do that. I’ll stay with it.”

The Toreros shot 56% and forced 18 Lehigh turnovers, 11 in the first half, during which they played some of their best ball of the season.

On paper this looked like a competitive game: Lehigh had four starters back from a 19-10 team favored to win the Patriot League and a berth in the NCAA tournament.

But it didn’t start out that way.

The Toreros spotted Lehigh the first four points of the game, then ran off the next 10, capped by a three-pointer by Probst. The Toreros never looked back in the first half, shooting 60%, building a 46-26 lead at the break and holding margins as large as 24 points.

Probst, averaging three points a game, made three three-point attempts in the half and tied Brown for the scoring lead in the period with nine points.

Krizansky, the preseason pick for Patriot League player of the year, was benched as an experiment, Lehigh Coach Dave Duke said. Krizansky entered six minutes into the game with the Engineers down, 15-7, and he made little difference in the half, with six points.

The second half was a different story. Krizansky again came in as a reserve, but this time he led a concerted charge, and with nine minutes to play, Krizansky’s driving basket cut USD’s lead to nine points. He also fouled out the Toreros’ best defender, Gylan Dottin, with 8:03 left to play.

Though the Toreros hung on, they weren’t comfortable again until Brown converted a three-point play and Duke received a technical resulting in another point with 3:04 left, giving USD a 82-69 lead.

“I didn’t think the game would stay (one-sided),” Egan said. “We’re not that physical a team. I don’t think we came out the second half and really got after it, and when we do that we have problems. The first half I thought we were very efficient and very aggressive. We were not nearly as aggressive the second half. The second half was very physical. Lehigh went out and tried to make it a war game and it almost worked.”