2018-19 #WCChoops Schedule | Championship Central | Crumpacker 2018-19 Archives
By John Crumpacker
#WCChoops Columnist
After beating Portland on Thursday and Santa Clara on Friday, it was reasonable to ask San Diego if it has anything left in the tank for Saturday’s WCC men’s tournament quarterfinal game vs. No. 3 BYU for its third game in three days.
“There’s no time to be tired right now,’’ Toreros senior
Isaiah Wright said. “We knew from the beginning we were going to have a lot of games. For a couple of us (seniors), it’s our last time.’’
Wright and his coach,
Sam Scholl, hope that it really is tough for a team to beat an opponent three times in a season. San Diego lost both games to BYU in the regular season, 88-82 in overtime at the Slim Gym and 87-73 in Provo.
“They’re a well-coached team,’’ Wright said. “I believe in our team. We’re going to bring them the best basketball we can.’’
Scholl said he’ll probably start out having
Isaiah Pineiro defend BYU’s star,
Yoeli Childs, but that other players like
Yauhen Massalski and
Alex Floresca will also take their turns against the All-Conference forward.
“We haven’t solved the
T.J. Haws-Yoeli Childs riddle yet,’’ Scholl said. “They put them in space and let them make plays. They have other guys ready to step up and make plays.’’
Of Childs specifically, Scholl said, “We have to make sure everything he does is challenged.’’
San Diego was not challenged by Santa Clara on Friday as the Toreros won easily 62-45.
In the other quarterfinal, Pepperdine will likewise be playing its third game in three days when it takes on 4 San Francisco. The Waves advanced to the third day of the tournament by winning the best game of the tournament to date, 68-65 over Loyola Marymount that was decided on
Colbey Ross’ 3-point shot with 31 seconds left and a missed trey by LMU’s
James Batemon at the buzzer.
The Waves dropped both games to USF this season, 72-69 at Firestone Fieldhouse and 89-77 on the Hilltop.
“USF is a very good team,’’ Pep coach
Lorenzo Romar said. “We had two battles with them and were unsuccessful. They know their roles. They play together.’’
Added Waves freshman
Kessler Edwards, “We’re pretty confident going into this one. We have nothing to lose.’’
In the last-second win over LMU, Edwards had 15 points, 6 rebounds and a block in a season in which he matured and improved over the course of the year. Ross led the Waves with 20 points while
Jade’ Smith contributed 16 important points, notably three baskets down the stretch that kept the game close after LMU had carved out an 11-point lead early in the second half.
“In the second half we really scrapped,’’ Romar said. “We made big play after big play. We just scrapped. We competed.’’
Here’s
What We Learned from day two of the men’s tournament:
- It figured that after the riveting Pepperdine-Loyola Marymount game that preceded it that Friday’s nightcap between San Diego and Santa Clara might be something less than inspiring. Make that a lot less. The Toreros played stifling defense from start to finish in a 62-45 win that saw the Broncos miss 39 of their 54 field goal attempts. “I think San Diego’s defense was tremendous,’’ Santa Clara coach Herb Sendek said. “I thought they were locked in. They really played tremendous defense.’’ Senior guard Isaiah Wright scored 23 points and dished out 8 assists in what was a masterful performance.
- LMU has the beef. In fact, the Lions might be the beefiest team in the WCC, one that nearly pulled out Friday’s second-round game vs. Pepperdine. Take a gander at this lineup of heavyweights: Eli Scott, 243 pounds; Zafir Williams, 241; Petr Herman, 235; Mattias Markusson, 261; Jordan Bell, 231; Jeffery McClendon, 216. Of course, Herman is 6-foot-10 and Markusson is 7-3. If Pepperdine’s Colbey Ross had missed that 3-point shot with 31 seconds left that broke a 65-65 tie, LMU might have prevailed.
- Happy to report that Pepperdine’s Andre Ball was released from a local hospital after a scary mishap in which the back of his head struck the knee of a sitting cameraman by the stanchion as he fell to the court. Sports information director Roger Horne said Ball checked out well on tests at the hospital. He did not play on Friday.