The USD men’s basketball team jumped to 10-3 as it solidly beat San Francisco, 73-63, Thursday at Jenny Craig Pavillion. This is the Toreros (1-0 West Coast Conference) best start since 1979.
Junior forward Isaiah Pineiro was on fire, scoring a season-high 23 points and eight rebounds. USD jumped to a 9-5 lead on the backs of two three-pointers from Pineiro. He connected another trey at the 13:37 mark to make it 12-7.
“I thought we did a great job tonight,” Toreros coach Lamont Smith said. “It started with us coming back from Christmas. Our maturity that night at practice set the tone with the team really dialed in and focused. And we executed our game plan on defense. That is what we are going to need to do to be successful in this league.”
The Toreros defense limited the Dons (8-6, 0-1 WCC) to just two three-pointers for the game. USD out-rebounded USF 38-34 and blocked the Dons nine times, with seven of them in the first half.
USD closed out the half with a Pineiro’s steal and slam dunk to make 37-24 at 1:21. The Toreros headed into the locker room with a 37-26 lead off Pineiro’s 15 and Isaiah Wright’s 12.
“We stuck to the game plan,” Pineiro said. “Coach (Chris Gerlufsen) had a game plan for us and we stuck to it the whole time. And we picked each other up when someone was going down.”
Wright also had a great night with 17 points, eight rebounds and six assists. He helped to extend USD’s lead to 17 at 45-28 with a score at 16:53.
“Both Isaiahs gave us a big game,” Smith said.
Olin Carter also contributed 13 points for USD.
The win was the Toreros’ first conference opener win since the 2012-13 season. Up next, USD hosts the Pepperdine Waves on Saturday in the WCC Game of the Week.
