March 5, 2005

SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Brandon Gay scored a career-high 34 to lead San Diego (16-12, 7-7 WCC) to an 86-80 win over Pepperdine (17-14, 6-8 WCC) in the second round of the WCC Championships Saturday night at the Leavey Center on the campus of Santa Clara University. Gay was one of four Toreros to score in double-digits on the night. Pepperdine's Alex Acker recorded a team-high 31 points and nine rebounds in the loss.

USD's Nick Lewis and Corey Belser added 17 and 13, respectively. Pepperdine's Glen McGown chipped in 20 for the Waves.

San Diego hit seven of its 10 free-throws down the stretch to secure the win.

San Diego went on a 9-0 run early in the second half to extend its lead after the break to 64-53.

After Acker hit two free-throws late in the second half, San Diego turned the ball over and Pepperdine's Keith Jarbo hit a three at the 2:20 mark to cut the lead to five. The Waves got within three at 83-80 before San Diego's Ross DeRogatis and Brice Vounang hit both of their free-throws as time started to expire.

San Diego and Pepperdine exchanged baskets early in the first half before San Diego went on a 9-0 run to extend its lead to 21-16 at the 10:19 mark. The Waves responded with a 7-0 run of their own that cut the San Diego lead to 33-32 before Gay hit a 3-pointer with 5:42 to go in the half to end the run.

The teams closed out the half at a furious pace with San Diego taking a 51-45 lead into the locker rooms at the half.

Gay scored 25 points of his 34 in the first half on 9-of-14 shooting, including 7-for-7 from beyond the arc, while Lewis put up 13 of his 17 in the first half.

Acker led the Waves at the break with 21 of his 31 points on 5-of-7 from the field, including 2-for-2 from the 3-point line and 9-for-9 from the free-throw line.

As a team, San Diego shot 55.9 percent from the field and an impressive 75 percent from the 3-point line in the first half. The Toreros finished the game shooting 50 percent from the field and 57.9 percent from three.

The Toreros advance to the semi-finals tomorrow night where they will face No. 1 seed Gonzaga at 6:00 pm at the Leavey Center.