UC Riverside
San Diego
USD Uses Strong Second Half to Defeat UCR
12/6/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
The University of San Diego Toreros used an outstanding second half shooting performance to help them to a 94-67 win over the visiting UC Riverside Highlanders at the Jenny Craig Pavilion in San Diego Tuesday.
The Toreros improved to 5-2 on the season, while the Highlanders fell to 0-5.
The Highlanders were led by freshman guard Houston Power's 13 points and senior forward Klaus Schille's 11 points. For the Toreros, forward Gyno Pomare had 21 points and forward Nick Lewis had 20.
To use an overused cliche, the game was a tale of two halves: the first in which the Highlanders played their best basketball of the season, and the second in which Pomare and Lewis went to work and USD built their lead into double figures.
The game marked the 2005-06 debut of Schille, who missed the first four games of the season after undergoing surgery on November 10th to remove bone spurs in his right ankle. Schille showed no adverse effects from the operation, playing 19 minutes and running the floor easily, even leading the break for a dunk off of a nice through pass by Steve Williams.
The Highlanders played the best half of the season in the first, balancing the floor and hitting 15-of-33 (45.5%) from the field. UCR got away from the three point shot, taking just a pair, back-to-back treys by freshman guard Sean Cunningham that brought the score to 25-24 with 6:10 remaining in the half. UCR trailed by a basket several times during the half, but the Toreros ended the half on a strong note as guard Ross DeRogatis drained a three at the buzzer to give USD a 42-36 lead into the intermission.
In the second half, Pomare and Lewis combined to score USD's first 10 points in a two-and-a-half minute span to build the six point lead into a 52-39 advantage. The Toreros never looked back from there, shooting 59.4% (19-of-32) from the field while holding the Highlanders to 29.7% (11-of-37).
