SAN DIEGO, Calif. – Freshman
Tan Yildizoglu tallied three career-highs for the Pacific men's basketball program on Saturday, but it wasn't enough as San Diego finished on top 81-69 at the Jenny Craig Pavilion.
In addition to his career-highs in points, rebounds and assists, he tallied a double-double. The Istanbul, Turkey native registered 10 points, 10 rebounds and five assists.
San Diego (17-14, 7-9 WCC) led Pacific (6-25, 0-16 WCC) for most of the way. The Tigers shot .440 from the floor compared to San Diego's .409, but the Toreros led by double-figures for all by 12 seconds of the second half.
Yildizoglu was one of three Pacific student-athletes to score in double-figures. Senior
Donovan Williams recorded 15 points, while sophomore
Makai Richards posted 10 points on four-of-five shooting.
Deuce Turner stood out for the Toreros with 30 points.
Richards scored the first couple buckets for the Tigers in a 4-4 game. The Toreros scored the next eight points to take an early 12-4 edge.
Still down 20-12, a three by senior
Jalen Brown and a pair of free throws by Williams trimmed it to 20-17 with 9:52 remaining. Though, San Diego pushed its lead back up to 37-25 with 4:29 left.
A pair of three-pointers by Yildizoglu got it down to 42-37 with 1:42 to go. However, the Toreros scored the last bucket of the half on a three-pointer by Deven Dahlke to carry a 45-37 advantage into the intermission.
San Diego increased its lead up to 55-40 with 17:38 to go in the second half. The Toreros extended it to 68-49 at the 12:10 mark.
Pacific made it a 74-61 spread after a pair of free throws by Yildizoglu with 6:09 left. A lay-up by senior
Judson Martindale was the final score of the game.
The Tigers will now turn their attention to the West Coast Conference Tournament where they'll take the court Thursday at 2:30 p.m. in the opening round in Las Vegas.
NOTES
- Pacific is now 16-12 all-time against San Diego. The Toreros avenged a home court defeat to the Tigers last season 84-82.
- Yildizoglu's previous career-highs were eight points, five rebounds and three assists. He drilled a pair of threes for the first time and reached double-figures for the first time. Yildizoglu logged a career-high 27:53 minutes.
- Williams, the team's leading scorer, has scored at least 13 points in four of the last five games. It was his 21st career double-digit scoring performance and 15th this year. Williams drained nine free throws, his second-most this season.
- Richards notched his second-highest scoring total of his career with 10 points.
- Sophomore
Moe Odum entered the game ranked third in the conference in both assists (4.6 apg) and assist:turnover ratio (2.5). He ended with five assists and just one turnover.
- Pacific played its final home game of the year last Saturday. The Tigers held a special pre-game ceremony for
Nick Blake, Brown,
Cam Denson,
Lesown Hallums, Jr.,
Greg Outlaw and Williams. At halftime, Pacific honored its Class of 2024 Hall of Fame inductees which included the 2003-06 men's basketball teams.
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