Lauren Ceballos / Sports Editor

USD men’s basketball takes on the heat of their season with a winning streak of four games this season, as of Feb. 15. They also had other competitive wins against Northern Colorado in late November, ending with a score of 74-72 in favor of Toreros, and against Arizona State in early December, ending with a score of 89-84. Toreros have stacked up games within five points where Toreros pushed to overcome point deficits.

About half of the team’s roster are first-year athletes, with transfer student PJ Hayes joining the team for his senior season, and second-year Emmanuel Callas coming off the bench from injury recovery. With a larger amount of younger members, the team could be considered fresh and new. After their fair share of rotating injured players throughout the last few seasons and players coming off the bench from recovery, the Toreros have hit the ground running. Prior to the four game winning streak, Toreros beat both the University of Portland, Pepperdine and other teams.

The Toreros’ winning streak began at Santa Clara on Feb. 3, where Toreros walked away with a final score of 70-59. That night, USD juniors Deuce Turner and Steven Jamerson II made notable contributions. Turner had a game high of 23 points and his 15th double-digit point accumulation this season, while Jamerson earned his third consecutive double double: earning double digits in two statistical categories. His most recent one included 10 points and 10 rebounds, a team high.

With less than 15 minutes left in the game, Hayes tied the score with a foul on a three pointer, tying the score up to 41-41. The lead shifted, until around the 10 minute mark where Toreros were able to take the lead with Jamerson’s three pointer. From there, the Toreros were able to make a 10-point gap, later scoring four more points from Turner’s free throws, ending the game at 70-59.

Hayes totaled 14 points that game against Santa Clara, and first-year athlete Kevin Patton Jr. was named WCC Player of the Week, scoring eight points and getting three blocks. USD junior Wayne McKinney III had five rebounds on defense and three steals throughout the game. Head Coach Steve Lavin shared his thoughts on the game against Santa Clara with USD Athletics.

“In conference play, when you can knock off a team that’s in the upper half of the league — on their home floor — it’s an indication that you’re making progress. Santa Clara is a quality team who’s beaten Gonzaga… so I’m proud of our players, not only to win this game tonight, but to win three out of four road games as the youngest team in school history. [The win] really bodes well, not only for the future this season, but beyond.”

The second winning game was against LMU. McKinney scored 24 points, had six rebounds and matched his career high with six assists, with two dunks in the first four minutes. Jamerson notched his fourth double double, having a game high of 11 rebounds and scoring 14 points, tying his season high of 35 minutes on the court and 86.1% shooting accuracy from the floor, according to USD Athletics. This win was the fourth in the last five games and the second in the streak, resulting in the 10th home win for Toreros this season.

Toreros came in hot with a 10-0 run against LMU. As the game progressed, USD went into the second half with a 13- point lead. With a little over two minutes left in the game, the score was 68-59. Toreros were leading by 12 points, with 1:47 left and LMU pushed to close the gap, making it 71-67. In the final minute, Toreros won, 79-77, with shots by Turner and McKinney. 

Winning game three out of four was at Pacific, with a score of 89-84, thanks to a 13- point comeback. In the first half, Toreros were down 13-26. However, they powered through. McKinney carried with a career high of 31 points throughout the game, joining Hayes and Turner in scoring 30 or more points a game in this season alone. Jamerson added another double double to his record and scored a career high of 22 points and a team high of four assists. Turner scored 20 points, his sixth game tallying 20 points or more and 17th time hitting double digits. Senior Deven Dahlke started closing the 13-point gap, with a three pointer that would get the Toreros back on their game. 

McKinney tied the game 36-36 then first-year Jimmy Oladokun Jr. scored a layup, giving Toreros the lead 38-36. At half time, Toreros were up with a lead of 45-43. This game, Oladokun was able to total seven points, four rebounds, and three assists. In the second half, Toreros were up 56-55 and kept going up from there only allowing Pacific to get within five points of the Toreros but ultimately winning with a score of 89-84. Turner had two

steals throughout the game and Callas had a block.

“USD’s win at Pacific on Saturday night marked the 11th time this season that it has overcome at least a five- point deficit and won, and the seventh time in 2023-2024 that it has overcome a double- digit deficit to earn a victory,” according to USD Athletics.

Toreros’ game against Portland took place on Feb. 15 at the Jenny Craig Pavilion (JCP) and was the fourth straight conference win. Earlier in the season, Toreros beat Portland 85-81 on Jan. 23 thanks to nine three pointers scored by Hayes, creating a program record. On the 15, the team came back from a 13 point deficit in the second half, ending the game 71-66. The team was draining their free throws, going eight for eight in the last two minutes, pulling through for the lead. During the game, Dragos Lungu, first-year guard, was working hard on defense, shuffling throughout the zone and helping aid in defense on the court. Patton had a career high of 13 points and Jamerson had four blocks, a new career high. The team also made a season high of 11 steals at this game.

This is “the eighth time this season that USD has overcome a double-digit deficit and won,” according to USD Athletics, resulting in the sixth win out of seven games to date.

The streak was lost against Santa Clara on Feb. 17 at the JCP with the second most attendees in the stands at home this season. In the previous match up on Feb. 3, Toreros beat Santa Clara 70-59, the game that began the winning streak. Despite the losing score, Toreros had other wins that night. Turner scored 30 points for the second time this season with McKinney and Patton both scoring in the double digits, aiding the team. Following Lungu’s effort on the defense in the previous game, Dahlke did the same, working the zone to the benefit of Toreros.

Toreros also ran down the shot clock for the Santa Clara Broncos, meaning that Toreros were able to keep the Broncos from getting a shot up within 30 seconds, on top of some forced turnovers.

Oladokun commented on his coach’s stance with the season and what the team is hoping for as they approach its end.

“Our coach said that we’re playing our best basketball toward the end of the season, and that’s good. So hopefully wecanmakearun.Ifwewin the season tournament then we could be eligible for the NCAA tournament so that would be really cool,” Oladokun shared. “Other than that, we’re practicing hard and everybody’s really invested into it and I think we’re gonna have a really good team this year and next year too.”

Patton Jr. has earned his fourth WCC Freshman of the Week title as of Feb. 19. He expressed his feelings toward earning the awards and how the team’s season is going.

“I think the season is going pretty well so far. We’ve had some ups and downs but recently we’ve been coming around, winning some games. Winning freshman of the week, it’s an honor, shoutout to my teammates because I couldn’t do it without them. Also winning games helps that so, I’m excited and looking forward to what else we can do,” Patton shared.

Patton also explained the games that the team has coming up for the rest of the season.

“I would just say that we’re getting better everyday. We have a big game this weekend against St. Mary’s and after that we have, I believe, LMU and Pacific so we’re looking to close the season out strong.”

USD men’s basketball has been working hard to stack up wins this season and is hoping to win in their upcoming games against St. Mary’s, LMU and Pacific, the last home game of the season on March 2 at JCP at 7p.m.

USD men’s basketball is set to play their next game at St. Mary’s on Saturday Feb. 24. Photo courtesy of@usdmbb/Instagram