Toreros fall to UC Irvine

USD men’s basketball loses late in game as Anteaters spark a second half comeback

Maria Watters / Assistant Sports Editor / The USD Vista

The USD men’s basketball team lost their first game of the season to UC Irvine after an unbelievable comeback by the Anteaters.  

Not only were both teams looking to make a statement in this first contest, but both the Toreros and the Anteaters entered the Jenny Craig Pavilion (JCP) on Tuesday with extra pressure to compete. 6’8’’ senior forward, Tommy Rutherford, two-time, first-team All San Diego Section pick, returned to his hometown to play his first collegiate game in San Diego in front of excited friends and family. Coming off of an impressive 31-6 season last year, the Anteaters were looking to build upon their past success. The Anteaters had a chance to play in the NCAA Tournament last season and even won a game in the first round. The Toreros, on the other hand, entered Tuesday night looking to prove that despite only having six returning players from last year’s roster, they were still a force to be reckoned with on the court.

Because of the changes to their roster that had yet to be tested, this first match would be a true test to see how the Toreros would be able to perform. 

 “With so many guys playing their first Division I game,  there was just a little bit of an unknown that probably kept us up a little bit as a coaching staff last night,” USD men’s basketball head coach Sam Scholl said.

Torero fans, decked out from head to toe in blue, poured into the arena to support their team. The excitement and uncertainty that came with a young team and a new season had the crowd buzzing in anticipation. They wouldn’t have to wait long, however, as both teams took the court. At 7 o’clock, Rutherford faced off against USD’s 6’10’’ junior forward Yauhen Massalski for the tip off. Massalski won the jump ball and the Toreros went on the attack. 

The Toreros got on the board on their first offensive effort of the game with layup made by redshirt junior guard Braun Hartfield. The score remained at 2-0 for two minutes as the Anteaters were shut down by the aggressive USD defense, while the Toreros couldn’t capitalize on several opportunities to increase their lead early on due to missed passes.

However, the Anteaters were able to string together several scoring drives, giving them a four-point lead going into the first media timeout. With a score of 9-5, the Anteaters went 3-6 in field goals and a perfect 3-3 in free throws. The Toreros, however, recovered four rebounds, two of them by 6’8’’ redshirt senior Alex Floresca, and were 1-3 on three point shots, while the Anteaters hadn’t logged a single attempt. 

After the timeout, the Anteaters were able to increase their lead to five over the Toreros by a score of 13-8. But as the game progressed, strong offensive efforts by the Toreros slowly closed the gap. Back to back jump shots by Massalski, redshirt-sophomore guard Joey Calcaterra, and redshirt freshman guard Marion Humphrey put the Toreros in the lead, at 14-13. 

Still in the lead, a huge defensive rebound by Calcaterra with 10 and a half minutes left in the half set up a huge three-point basket by Humphrey off the fast break. The Torero bench and fans alike jumped to their feet and cheered as UC Irvine took a timeout with the score at 22-17. The momentum was fully in the Toreros’ favor.

With their feet firmly on the gas pedal, the Toreros scored eight unanswered points, bringing their lead to 15 points over the Anteaters, at 35-20. 

Despite incredibly tough full-court defense by UCI, the Toreros maintained their lead for the rest of the half. The whistle blew after the first 20 minutes of play, and the Toreros went into the locker room up 48-32 over the Anteaters. 

The inexperience of the Toreros didn’t seem to affect their dominating first-half performance. 

“We just came out of the gate ready to go,” Calcaterra said. “And even though we are an inexperienced team we came out ready to go.”

Though USD fans had high expectations for their team, none of them predicted the Toreros would be leading the Anteaters by 14 points. With so many offensive weapons, the Toreros made 51.5% of their shots and 53.8% of their three-point shots, while the Anteaters made half of their field goals and no three-point baskets.  

Both teams returned and took the court, and after the first few minutes of play it was clear the second half was going to be very different than the first. On their first offensive possessions, both teams were stopped by the opposing defenses. The Toreros were plagued by miscommunication early in the half as two bad passes resulted in UCI baskets. The Anteaters slowly began chipping away at the Toreros’ lead. 

Despite still having a comfortable 52-42 lead, the Toreros went into the first media timeout having scored only four points to the Anteaters’ eight in the half so far. 

Coming out of the timeout, the Toreros seemed to get back into the game, defending their lead, and even stretching to 15 points at 61-46. But with 13 minutes left in the game, the Anteaters went on a huge run, scoring 15 baskets to USD’s one, killing the Toreros’ lead at 62-61. The Anteaters’ defense was effectively shutting down the productivity of the Torero offense. The Toreros were only making a quarter of their field goals and hadn’t scored a single three-point basket. It seemed their almost certain victory after the first half was slipping through the Toreros’ fingers.

With five and a half minutes left in the game, USD led UCI 64-61. The crowd and players alike were on the edge of their seats. What had been a dominating performance by the Toreros was now a high-stakes battle where every shot counted. 

Two free throws made by UCI’s redshirt-sophomore forward Collin Welp brought the score to 64-63. On the next play, a bad pass by the Toreros was stolen by the Anteaters’ senior guard Evan Leonard, whose two-point jump shot gave UC Irvine the lead at 65-64. For the first time since taking a 19-17 lead in the first half, the Toreros were losing. 

USD was able to tie up the score at 65 with a free throw by Floresca, but the Anteaters came back with a jump shot by  senior forward John Edgar Jr. The Toreros tied up the score again at 67 with three minutes left in the game, but with several offensive rebounds, UC Irvine pulled ahead 70-67.

Every time the Toreros got close to tying the score or pulling ahead, the Anteaters answered with baskets of their own, and soon USD was down 72-69 with one minute left to play.

“I thought we were pretty solid throughout the game,”  Calcaterra said. “We just didn’t stop them in time to stop the bleeding.”

USD called a timeout and was forced to foul UCI senior guard Eyassu Worku to keep the clock from winding down. It seemed to pay off as Hartfield scored a huge three-point jump shot with 14 seconds left, bringing the Toreros within striking distance of victory at 74-73. But another foul by USD on the Anteaters took that chance away as UC Irvine went up 76-73. 

With their only hope left to tie in the few remaining seconds left in the game, Hartfield went up for a desperate three-point jump shot. The final buzzer sounded as the ball sailed through the air. The crowd collectively held their breath. The fate of the game was on the line. The ball hit the rim and bounced out. Game over. 

The Toreros were defeated by the UC Irvine Anteaters 76-73, despite going into the second half with a 12-point lead.

“I know it’s going to hurt the guys because they are very competitive and they wanted to come out and set the tone for the year,” Scholl said. “They did for 20 minutes, now we’ve just got to learn how to do it for 40 minutes.”

Though their first game ended in a loss, the skill and talent the Toreros showed gave fans hope for another impressive season. 

“I feel really good about us,”  Calcaterra said. “We are really young, so we (have) fresh legs and we are just excited to be out there.”

USD traveled to Long Beach State on Saturday to take on the 0-1 Beach. Though USD put up a formidable fight, penalties and turnovers proved fatal as they were defeated 74-62.