USD was narrowly defeated by Pepperdine 50-47 Saturday afternoon in the quarterfinals of the West Coast Conference Tournament at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas.
The No. 5 seed Toreros (15-16, 8-10) led No. 4 seed Pepperdine 24-18 at halftime, but a 9-0 run by the Waves midway through the second half brought them within striking distance, and they would not look back.
Both teams battled close the rest of the way, however the Toreros were not able to tie it up on a halfcourt shot by senior guard Johnny Dee that missed a little to the left in the final seconds of the game.
Dee finished with 11 points, which was tied for the team-high with freshman guard Vasa Pusica.
Pepperdine will now face off against Gonzaga—No. 7 in the AP Top-25 poll— in the semifinals of the tournament while the Toreros will look to various postseason tournaments to keep their season alive.
USD coach Bill Grier told Times of San Diego last week that the Toreros have been in discussion about playing in the College Basketball Invitational (CBI) and the College Insider.com Postseason Tournament (CIT).
Last season USD won two games in the CIT, but were defeated by Pacific in the quarterfinals.
“Those tournaments really have a lot of value for our program,” Grier said. “It gives you an opportunity to continue to play and it can give your younger players a taste of the postseason. It was a good experience for us last year.”
However, Grier noted that a win on Saturday would have put them in a “good position” to be in one of those tournaments.
The CIT has a field of 32 and will begin on March 17 while the CBI has a field of 16 teams and also begins play on March 17.
