Friday, November 18, 2005

Contact: Stan Cole

San Diego Outlasts Campbell 90-81 In Men's Basketball Opener

BUIES CREEK, N.C. – Nick Lewis scored all 16 of his points in the second half and San Diego held off Campbell 90-81 in the men's basketball opener for both schools Friday night at Carter Gym.

The Toreros (1-0) shot 59 percent (16-27) from the floor in the second half, 54 percent (31-57) for the game to offset 30 turnovers, which Campbell converted into 29 points. USD hit 11-of-21 from 3-point range (52 percent) and held a 40-31 edge on the glass.

Lewis, a 6-foot-10 senior forward, made 5-of-7 shots in the second period, including 2-of-2 threes and 4-of-5 from the line, to lead five double-figure scorers. Red-shirt freshman Gyno Pomare added 15 points (plus 10 boards and four blocks) as did Ross DeRogatis, who chipped in a game-high six assists. Corey Belser and Brandon Johnson scored 14 each.

Senior forward Maurice Latham topped the Camels (0-1) with 18 points, six rebounds and four steals. Sophomore Reggie Bishop came off the bench to add a career-high 16, while transfer Eric Smith had 15, including four threes, in his first game with Campbell. Diego Aguiar and J'Quincy Jones added 10 apiece.

Campbell shot just 39 percent (26-67) for the night, including 31 percent (11-36) in the first half.

Playing in front of greater-than-capacity crowd of 960 in the second-smallest arena (947 seats) among Division I men's programs, Campbell used a 10-0 run early in the first half to jump to a 14-10 lead.

USD answered with its own 10-0 spurt and never trailed again. With Lewis limited to just seven minutes in the opening period due to foul trouble, Pomare made all four of his shots and had nine points and the Toreros led 44-36 at the break.

Pomare's jumper with 13:04 remaining gave USD its largest lead of the game at 61-47. Lewis scored 8-straight points and the Torero lead was 83-70 with 3:06 to go. Campbell cut the gap to six on Jones' drive with 1:41 to go, but got no closer.

San Diego, which travels to UC-Santa Barbara Monday, canned 17-of-22 foul shots (77.3 percent), including 5-of-7 in the final 1:33. The Toreros play their first four games away from home.

Campbell is off until next Saturday (Nov. 26) when it travels to William and Mary. [ Box Score ]