USD Beats St. Mary’s on Last Shot : College basketball: Barnhard basket wins it, 50-48.

The University of San Diego saved its best play for the last one of the regular season.

With the clock winding down to 0:03 in a 48-48 tie, USD’s Reed Watson wheeled toward the basket and lobbed a pass over the defense to Brooks Barnhard, who put in a layup for a 50-48 victory over St. Mary’s.

The victory, USD’s third in a row after seven consecutive losses, gave the Toreros fifth place in the West Coast Conference at 6-8 and guaranteed they will finish at last at .500. They’re 14-13 going into the WCC Tournament next weekend, where they will face third-place Gonzaga (8-6).

With the loss, St. Mary’s dropped into seventh place at 4-10 and 13-16. The Gaels will face second-place Santa Clara (9-5) in the WCC opening round.

Times for Saturday’s WCC opening round in Portland will be announced today.

Barnhard’s winning basket, the last of his eight points, culminated an intensely competetive second half in which there were six ties and four lead changes. The final tie came with 37 seconds left on two free throws by St. Mary’s John Levitt.

USD Coach Hank Egan elected to work for a last shot, but St. Mary’s defended it well. No surprise there--their Gael-force defense made the Toreros work for every point. USD shot 40% and made only 16 field goals.

But Watson made it work, drawing the defense as he dribbled along the right of the lane, then finding Barnhard for the easiest shot of the night.

“That was the (designed) play, sort of,” Egan said with a grin. “It kinda broke down a little bit. Reed improvised how he got it where it was supposed to go. Basically, we ran a play, they defended it well, Reed ad-libbed and saved the coach.

“The only thing I did smart was I told ‘em we were gonna burn the clock and win it or take it into overtime. We’ve had too many close ones not go our way this year.”

Watson, with 10 points, and Michael Brown with 11, were the only Toreros in double figures. With St. Mary’s shooting 40.5%, Eric Bamberger was high with 15 points, followed by John Levitt with 12 and Brian Brazier with 10, plus 10 rebounds.

Of course, it was a veritable shootout compared to their first meeting, a 46-36 St. Mary’s victory in Moraga.

“I thought it was a hell of a basketball game,” Egan said. “It was a war, just like the first game. Both teams really got after it.”

Gaels first-year Coach Ernie Kent said, “We did what we had to do to stay in the game by slowing the ball down. We did everything but stop the last post play.”

Watson, playing with a mask to protect a broken nose, said he thought the play went as expected. “We run that play all year,” Watson said. “It normally takes place at the top of the key. This was just from a different angle. They gave me a lane. (Barnhard) was supposed to be there. I knew he was there. I never looked at the rim--I wasn’t going to shoot unless I was all the way to the basket.”

In a first half delineated by spurts and tenacious defense, St. Mary’s forged a 24-20 halftime lead, thanks mainly to an early 11-0 run. The Gaels outshot the Toreros, 56% to 35%, but USD made up some of the difference by forcing 11 turnovers. St. Mary’s had 17 overall, to USD’s 12.

St. Mary’s took the biggest lead of the game, 28-20, with 17:55 left, then USD’s pressure helped the Toreros get back in the game. They tied it at 28 with 13:44 to play and took their first lead since the opening minutes, 32-30, when Watson powered in a layup.

The Toreros held a 48-44 lead down the stretch but St. Mary’s pulled even on four free throws, Levitt’s tying the game at 48 to set up the last play.

“We’re in control, then bam, we’re out of control,” Egan said. “At least we had time to do something. We’ve been in a lot of close games, hung tough but didn’t come away with anything. San Diego State (a 70-67 victory in the first game of the season) is the only other one I can think of.”

Said Watson: “We’ve been in this situation before and haven’t pulled it off. I guess it was just our turn.”