Toreros get off to quick start, cruise past Eagles

The score at Reese Court Sunday afternoon was no surprise:

San Diego 58, Eastern Washington 36.

The Toreros, with four players in double figures, had 25 field goals to the Eagles’ 24 attempts, hitting 7 of 9 3-pointers and 64.1 percent from the floor overall. They had a 16-10 rebounding advantage with eight offensive boards and forced 11 turnovers.

That led to a 14-1 USD edge in points off turnovers and 16-2 difference in second-chance points.

The surprise was that was all in the first half, even with the Eagles shooting 66.7 percent.

There was no where to go but up but after that dismal defensive effort but the Eagles never recovered, falling 97-78 before a New Year’s Day crowd of 1,489.

That sends the Eagles into Big Sky Conference play with a three-game losing streak and a 5-8 record.

“We have to approach every game with focus, intensity and greater effort,” Deuce Smith, Eastern’s lone senior and team captain, said. “I think it’s also a learning process (for the young players). We just need to gear up for conference. Hopefully they’ll learn from this, these last three games. … I wouldn’t be surprised if they come back strong.

“I’m not worried. These guys don’t like losing, they love to compete. No matter how much we’re down, they have a good effort.”

The Toreros finished the preseason with a 10-3 record heading into West Coast Conference play, which pleased veteran coach Brad Holland.

“This was a very significant win for us,” he said. “I’m really proud of that accomplishment. It’s been 21 years since a team here has done that.”

San Diego ended up shooting 56.5 percent, including 10 of 14 3s, which off-set Eastern’s 59.6 percent shooting, even with a 0-for-9 effort on 3-pointers.

Only once in 118 games did the Eagles give up as many as 97 points – that was the 104 in a 13-point loss at Washington last year – but now the Eagles have given up 97 twice in a week. Eastern lost 97-66 at Brigham Young on Tuesday.

“We came out with a lackadaisical effort early in the game and that allowed them to get going,” Eastern coach Mike Burns said. “They were rested, they haven’t played since December 22, and we let them get their legs under their shots and you can’t do that against a good shooting team like San Diego. We learned that the hard way today.”

Seniors Corey Belser and 6-foot-10 Nick Lewis, had 23 and 19 points, respectively, for USD with both hitting all three of their 3-pointers. Gyno Pomare, a 6-9 freshman, burned the Eagles with 20 points and he matched Lewis’ nine rebounds, seven on the offensive end.

“Everything they threw up just seemed as if it went in,” sophomore forward Jake Beitinger said. “Part of that was our defensive intensity wasn’t there.”

The Eagles had three players in double figures, led by Rodney Stuckey’s 19, with seven assists. Paul Butorac had a career-high 18 points with seven rebounds and Smith had 15 points.

“We shot 60 percent and had 22 assists but we had too many turnovers (17),” Burns said. “Shooting wasn’t our problem, it was our defensive effort.”

The Eagles are at Northern Arizona on Thursday, Sacramento State Saturday and Portland State a week later.

“It’s a clean slate now, what has happened has happened, and we need to get ready to face Northern Arizona,” Burns said. “I’m expecting us to win a lot of Big Sky games, just like I would any other year. We are young and with each game comes a new challenge and a new learning process for our younger players. We just need to learn to bring a maximum effort every night.”

San Diego 97, E. Washington 78

San Diego (10-3)—Belser 10-13 0-0 23, N.Lewis 6-11 4-4 19, Pomare 10-16 0-0 20, DeRogatis 5-7 0-0 13, Murdock 2-7 0-0 5, Johnson 4-8 5-9 13, Brown 0-2 0-0 0, Price 0-0 0-0 0, White 0-1 0-0 0, Cohen 1-3 0-0 2, Smith 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 39-69 9-13 97.

Eastern Washington (5-8)—Zumwalt 0-1 0-0 0, Beitinger 2-5 1-4 5, Butorac 8-13 2-3 18, Stuckey 8-13 3-6 19, Smith II 7-10 1-3 15, Penoncello 1-3 0-0 2, Bekkering 1-2 0-0 2, Humphrey 1-2 1-2 3, Williams 4-5 0-0 8, Risper 2-3 2-3 6. Totals 34-57 10-21 78.

Halftime—San Diego 58, Eastern Washington 36. 3-point goals—San Diego 10-14 (Belser 3-3, N.Lewis 3-3, DeRogatis 3-4, Murdock 1-2, Brown 0-2), Eastern Washington 0-9 (Bekkering 0-1, Penoncello 0-1, Stuckey 0-1, Zumwalt 0-1, Smith II 0-2, Beitinger 0-3). Fouled out—None. Rebounds—San Diego 35 (N.Lewis, Pomare 9), Eastern Washington 29 (Butorac 7). Assists—San Diego 19 (Johnson 7), Eastern Washington 22 (Stuckey 7). Total fouls—San Diego 19, Eastern Washington 16. A—1,489.