USD v. CSDH

See, we finally changed the headline. But we really had to think about it. Hard.

USD finished its non-conference schedule by rallying for a 78-66 victory over Cal State Dominguez Hills, a SoCal D-II team last night at the USD Sports Center. The win improved the USD Toreros' record to 8-4, the same as this time last year going into the conference.

But USD's coach Brad Holland, formerly of UCLA, believes the record is really not equivalent to last year. This year, USD has beaten only two Division I teams with winning records and last night they struggled against a Division II team with a 3-7 record. They've beaten a couple of good (or ok) teams: An 81-41 rout of San Jose State and an impressive 86-78 victory over St. Francis (N.Y.). But what Holland knows is missing is the play of Brian Bruso, who graduated last year. And they also didn't have point guard Alex Parker, who was benched for what disciplinary reasons having something to do which "something that happened" during last week's 77-61 loss at Montana State, according to Holland. USD opened the game yesterday with leading scorer Brian Miles and 7-foot Jeff Knoll up front and Brock Jacobsen, Lamont Smith and Mike Courtney in the backcourt. USD jumped out to leads of 9-1 and 13-3, and then Dominguez put on a 38-22 run. Ryan Williams came off the bench to lead USD with 22 points (12-of-12 from the foul line) and 11 rebounds. Nosa Obasohan scored nine straight points in a three-minute span of the second half to expand USD's lead from three to nine points. Dominguez Hills offense was impressive though, or USD's defense needs a bit of work, because Dominguez scored 44 points in the lane. USD opens next week in WCC play with home games against San Francisco and Santa Clara.

CAL DOM HILLS (66)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Fray            35  6-10   1-1   3-6  0  4   13
Seals           17   1-4   0-0   0-3  1  4    2
Dolan            6   0-1   0-0   1-1  0  0    0
Johnson         28   2-7   1-2   1-3  4  4    5
Polk            15   0-4   0-0   0-2  0  1    0
Patterson       29   5-9   5-7   2-5  0  3   16
Cleveland       13   1-4   3-3   2-2  0  2    5
Jones            3   1-1   0-0   0-0  0  0    2
Sims             2   0-0   0-0   0-0  0  2    0
Plaza           12   3-3   0-0   0-0  1  0    6
Saffold         27  5-14   2-3   2-5  0  1   13
Wade            13   2-4   0-0   2-3  0  2    4
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 26-61 12-16 13-30  6 23   66
_______________________________________________

Percentages: FG-.426, FT-.750. 3-Point Goals:
2-8, .250 (Polk 0-1, Patterson 1-2, Saffold 1-5).
Team rebounds: 1. Blocked shots: 1 (Seals).
Turnovers: 18 (Johnson 4, Patterson 3, Seals 3,
Fray 2, Plaza 2, Saffold 2, Cleveland, Jones).
Steals: 10 (Polk 3, Fray 2, Johnson 2, Wade 2,
Patterson).

SAN DIEGO (78)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Courtney        10   1-3   0-0   0-0  0  2    2
Miles           30  7-11   2-4   1-4  2  4   18
Knoll           18   3-3   0-0   0-1  1  2    6
Jacobsen        33   2-5   7-8   1-4  4  0   11
Smith           30   0-2   0-0   0-5  2  2    0
White           25   1-3   4-6   0-1  3  0    6
Brewer           1   0-1   0-0   0-0  0  0    0
Blackmon         6   0-1   0-0   0-0  0  0    0
Williams        26  5-11 12-12  6-11  1  1   22
Obasohan        21   4-7   3-4   0-2  0  4   13


_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 23-47 28-34  8-28 13 15   78
_______________________________________________

Percentages: FG-.489, FT-.824. 3-Point Goals: 4-11, .364
(Courtney 0-1, Miles 2-3, Jacobsen 0-1, Smith 0-1, White 0-1,
Williams 0-1, Obasohan 2-3). Team rebounds: 3. Blocked
shots: None. Turnovers: 16 (Obasohan 5, Jacobsen 3, Miles
2, Smith 2, White 2, Williams 2). Steals: 6 (White 3, Brewer,
Jacobsen, Obasohan).

San Diego opens conference play this Thursday, January 8, at home against USF. Game time is at 7:00 pm, PST. Be there.