Nov. 16, 2009

Box Score

Stockton, Calif. - Playing their first game in front of their home crowd at the Alex G. Spanos Center, the Pacific men's basketball team took down San Diego in a 56-55 thriller on Monday, November 16. The win for the Tigers improved their record to 2-0 while the Toreros fell to 1-1 on the year.

San Diego took an early 8-3 lead, getting two quick three-pointers from Brandon Johnson. Pacific battled back with a jumper from junior Sam Willard (Pierre, Calif.) and a three-pointer by freshman Allen Huddleston (Merced, Calif.) to tie it at 8-8 with 14:22 left in the half. The Toreros took the lead back, holding the Tigers to six points over the next 10 minutes pull ahead 21-14. The Tigers finished the half on an 8-0 run over the final 4:27 to take a 22-21 lead, finishing off the run on a layup by freshman Allen Huddleston (Merced, Calif.) at the buzzer.

With a 28-27 lead, the Tigers used another 8-0 run to take a nine point advantage (36-27) with 12:51 to play in the game. Senior Joe Ford (Altadena, Calif.) scored five points in the stretch. San Diego scored eight points from the line in a 10-2 run over the next four minutes to cut the Tigers' lead back to 39-38 with 8:54 left. Another quick 9-0 spurt keyed by great defense gave the Tigers their largest lead of the game (48-38) with 6:48 to play. Junior Terrell Smith (Federal Way, Wash.) had a steal and a dunk, while scoring four points in the run. The Toreros crawled back into the game, using a 17-7 over the next six minutes to even it up at 55-55 with nine seconds remaining. Patrick McCollum, who hit a pair of three-pointers in a row after missing his first nine shots, hit the game-tying free throw with nine seconds to go. Tiger senior Lavar Neufville (Fairfield, Calif.) hit one of two free throws with six seconds to play as the Tigers went back up 56-55. San Diego's Matt Dorr missed a three-pointer as time expired and the Tigers held on for the win.

Willard led all players with 17 points and eight rebounds, while Smith scored nine for the Tigers. Pacific hit 1-of-10 three-point attempts, taking just two in the second half. Despite shooting 52.8 percent from the free throw line, the Tigers hit six of their last seven attempts down the stretch. The Tigers held San Diego to 31.1 percent shooting from the field. De'Jon Jackson led the Toreros with 16 points.

The Tigers are next in action at Northern Arizona on Thursday, Nov. 19 in the opening round of the West Coast Classic. The game is slated to start at 5:35 p.m. (PST).