Toreros overcome big deficit, reach title game

By Tom Shanahan - For The North County Times | Monday, March 10, 2008 9:19 AM PDT ∞

University San Diego's Brandon Johnson celebrates while being carried by fans after USD defeated St. Mary's in double overtime at the Jenny Craig Pavilion in San Diego on Sunday. Photo Hayne Palmour IV

University San Diego fans cheer as the USD mens basketball team makes a come back against St. Mary's during the final minutes of the game at Jenny Craig Pavilion in San Diego on Sunday. USD won in double overtime. Photo Hayne Palmour IV

SAN DIEGO ---- Saint Mary's men's basketball coach Randy Bennett feared what happened Sunday night, and now Gonzaga coach Mark Few must fear something similar happening tonight.

The University of San Diego used its homecourt advantage to rally from a nearly game-long double-digit deficit in the final eight minutes of regulation, then wore down the Gaels in double overtime for a 75-69 victory in the West Coast Conference semifinals.

Few's Bulldogs, who beat Santa Clara 52-48 in the evening's first semifinal, will face the Toreros at 6 p.m. today, also at USD's Jenny Craig Pavilion.

Saint Mary's bolted to a quick 16-2 lead, held a 36-23 advantage at halftime, and still led by 12 with 8 minutes, 15 seconds remaining in regulation.

The Toreros (20-13) didn't trim Saint Mary's double-digit lead to single digits until 6:46 was left in regulation at 50-41. They tied it 52-52 on Rob Jones' two free throws with 56 seconds left in the game, and neither team scored again in regulation.

"It's not exactly how we drew it up, but we will take it," USD coach Bill Grier said. "For the first time in a long time, we had the deer-in-the-headlights look for the first 20 minutes. It was frustrating. But to the guys' credit, they responded, especially the last 10 minutes of the game."

Each team scored three points in the first overtime, and USD's Brandon Johnson missed a long jump shot from near the top of the key in the closing seconds, sending the teams to a second overtime tied at 55.

USD finally gained momentum in the second overtime when junior Gyno Pomare (El Camino High) tipped in a missed shot. After a Saint Mary's shot-clock violation, Johnson (game-high 28 points) buried a 3-point field goal as the shot-clock buzzer sounded.

After an offensive rebound basket by Pomare gave the Toreros a 62-56 lead, Saint Mary's (25-6) was forced to foul. USD hit enough of the free throws to survive a couple of desperation 3-point field goals by Gaels guard Tron Smith.

"Once we got into overtime, we had the momentum," Grier said. "It was a heck of a win."

Johnson hit all four of his 3-pointers after halftime. Pomare added a double-double with 22 points and 12 rebounds as well as four blocked shots.

Diamon Simpson led the Gaels with 17 points, and freshman guard Patrick Mills added 16.

The neutral court issue is a long-simmering one for coaches finishing at the top of the WCC. And Few and Bennett, coaches of the first- and second-place teams in the WCC regular season, will get their wish next year, when the tournament moves to Las Vegas.

Before the doubleheader, the WCC announced the 2009 tournament will be played at the Orleans Casino and Hotel's 9,000-seat arena.

Oddly enough, Saint Mary's started the game as if it was shooting on familiar home rims. The Gaels opened the night hitting their first four 3-point attempts and needed less than four minutes to amass a 16-2 lead.

The spurt took the USD crowd out of the game for most of the first half.

With 11:17 left in the first half, the Gaels had stretched their lead to 24-8 and had made 10-of-14 field goal attempts. USD was just 4-of-12 at that point, including 0-for-2 from 3-point range.

The Toreros had a chance to close the deficit in the closing minutes of the first half when Saint Mary's went three minutes without scoring. But in the same time span, USD managed only an offensive rebound basket by Pomare.

The 6-foot-8 Pomare was the Toreros' only effective weapon in the first half, netting 13 points and six rebounds.

After USD had finally whittled the lead to single digits at 50-41, Johnson followed a 3-point field goal with a drive to the basket and foul that resulted in him making 1-of-2 free throws.

To more Johnson 3-pointers trimmed Saint Mary's lead first to 50-46 with 4:53 left in regulation then to 52-49 with 2:19 on the clock.

New commissioner

The WCC introduced Jamie Zaninovich, an associate athletic director at Princeton the last five years, as its new commissioner before the men's semifinal games. He succeeds Michael Gilleran, who is retiring on May 31 after 24 years as WCC commissioner.

At Princeton, Zaninovich negotiated the Ivy League's first television agreement with ESPN. He also was an assistant athletic director at Stanford and has served on the NCAA Division I basketball committee, including committee chair in 2006-07.