USD Game Recap: Toreros Late Second Half Rally Smushes South Dakota State

March 8, 2013; Las Vegas, NV, USA; San Diego Toreros guard Johnny Dee (1, top) celebrates against the Brigham Young Cougars during the second half in the quarterfinals of the West Coast Conference tournament at Orleans Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

The Toreros battled back in a close fought game and defeated the South Dakota State Jackrabbits by a score of 74-70.

The Toreros found themselves down by 6 points with 4:36 left to play. With not much momentum on its side, San Diego went on a 13-6 run to end the game and put away the Jackrabbits. The Toreros had to come back in this game despite being up 41 to 24 at halftime.

Johnny Dee led all scorers with 27 points (9 of 17 shooting). Sophomore Duda Sanadze and junior Christopher Anderson contributed 14 and 11 points respectively. Jito Kok blocked 3 shots, and Anderson dished out 8 assists. Dennis Kramer was San Diego’s glass man tonight with 10 rebounds.

For the Jackrabbits, Jake Bittle came up huge off the bench. The sophomore scored 18 points, snagged 6 rebounds, and stole the ball two times throughout the course of night.

The Toreros backcourt is very good, but we knew that already. With the front-court just along for the ride, Johnny Dee and Christopher Anderson will be the leaders emotionally and on the court. However, down the road the Toreros will need better production from the big men; not one San Diego forward or center scored in double-digits, and the front-court as a whole only contributed for only 27% of the Toreros total points tonight.