USD vs. UNLV

Justin Saks / The USD Vista

Though the season is young, the Toreros have already faced a fair share of adversity. Leading up to their season opening game at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas, it was unknown if senior center Gyno Pomare would play. It turned out Pomare wasn’t the only starter for the Toreros that would be inactive for the game.

Sophomore Trumaine Johnson, the starting point guard, was suspended not only for the season opener but will miss at least the first five games for “behavior unbecoming a USD student athlete,” said head coach Bill Grear in the San Diego Union Tribune. Sophomore reserve Clinton Houston will face at least a six game suspension with his reinstatement contingent on meeting certain criteria set by Grier. Junior starter De’Jon Jackson was also inactive for the game because of a knee injury suffered during an exhibition game.

“Obviously this puts us at a huge loss to start the season, and I can’t express how disappointed I am,” Grier said. “It is very upsetting that it has come to this. But I have to look at the long-term good of this program in making decisions like this.”

Joining starters Brandon Johnson and Rob Jones was sophomore guard Devin Ginty and transfers Matt Dorr and Roberto Mafra. In the first 10 minutes of the game, the Toreros struggled to hit their shots. They went zero for six with two turnovers allowing the UNLV Rebels an early 12-4 lead.

Senior guard Danny Brown provided a spark off the bench connecting on all of his three pointers in the first half to help the Toreros get back into the game. At halftime, the Toreros trailed the Rebels by a score of 34-29.

The Toreros took the lead on three different occasions in the second half. With 2:34 to go in the game the Toreros led 58-57. The Rebels stormed back though and scored the next six points to put the game out of reach for the Toreros. The final score was 65-60.

“It was a tough loss for us. You can’t really think of the fact we were short handed. They have to put five on the court just like we do,” Brown said. “It was Dorr and Mafra’s first Division I game in a hostile environment, and they did a tremendous job.”

Jones led the Toreros with his first double-double of the season with 19 points and 10 rebounds. Despite shooting poorly in the game, Brandon Johnson scored 14 points to go along with five assists and three steals. For the Rebels, Wink Adams scored 19 points and freshman Oscar Bellfield added 13.

The Toreros showed their depth and were able to hold their own against the defending Mountain West Conference champions. Later on in the season, especially in conference play and in the West Coast Conference tournament the Toreros might be able to benefit from the early challenges they had to face.

“There is no such thing as a moral victory for us, but we can find positives in the way we competed even though we were without some of our pieces,” Brown said.