Men's Basketball Falls to San Diego 76-69

Wednesday, February 5

San Diego, CA

7:00 PM

Saint Mary's College of California

*at San Diego

Men's Basketball Falls to San Diego 76-69

2/5/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball

Feb. 5, 2003

Box Score

San Diego, CA - The Saint Mary's men's basketball team suffered a 76-69 loss to the University of San Diego Toreros in a West Coast Conference game on Wednesday night from the Jenny Craig Pavilion. San Diego shot 33-for-44 from the free throw line in the game while Saint Mary's reached the line just nine times in the game. Saint Mary's falls to 11-9 overall and 4-3 in WCC play. San Diego improves to 10-10 overall and 5-2 in conference action.

Chase Poole led the Gaels with 14 points, all coming in the second half and nine rebounds. Poole was joined in double figures by Samuel Saint-Jean and Adam Caporn. Saint-Jean scored all 11 of his points in the second half and Caporn added 10 points. Jason Blair led the Toreros with 27 points to lead all scorers, and the WCC's leading scorer, Jason Keep, added 23 points. With the win San Diego moves into second place ahead of Saint Mary's and San Francisco.

For the game, Saint Mary's shot 47.5 percent from the field, but it could not overcome the discrepancy from the free throw line. Saint Mary's was whistled for 30 fouls while San Diego was called for 15 total fouls. The game was decided at the free throw line as USD attempted 35 more shots from the charity stripe. USD would hold the advantage on the boards, outrebounding the Gaels 39-31.

Saint Mary's opened the game with a 9-3 before San Diego hit its first field goal of the game at the 12:20 mark. The Toreros would tie the score at 9-9 before SMC used an 8-0 run, capped by a Tyler Herr three, to open a 17-9 lead with 8:40 remaining in the half. SMC would extend its first half lead to 9-points (21-12) with 6:53 remaining in the half.

San Diego used an 11-2 run over the next four minutes to even the score at 23-23. The Toreros would take the lead, 28-25, on a three by Jason Blair with 1:58 to play in the half. After trailing by nine, San Diego out scored the Gaels 21-6 over the final six minutes of the half to take a 32-27 lead into the locker room.

San Diego extended its lead to 41-33 just three minutes into the second half. Saint Mary's would battle back and take the lead, 46-44, when Anthony Woodards converted a layin off the Gaels inbounds pass with 13:37 remaining. Saint-Jean highlighted the 13-3 run with seven straight points for SMC.

USD would respond to open a 60-52 lead on a pair of free throws by Nick Lewis with 8:00 left to play. Saint Mary's cut the lead to 62-61 when Saint-Jean hit a 15-foot jumper with 4:05 remaining on the clock. From there San Diego would make just two shots from the floor, but made 12 free throws down the stretch.

The Saint Mary's men's basketball team will return to West Coast Conference action on Saturday, February 8 when the Gaels welcome the University of San Francisco to McKeon Pavilion. In the meeting between SMC and USF earlier this season, The Gaels pulled out a 68-62 come-from-behind victory at San Francisco.