CIT 1st Round Game Recap: San Diego breezes past Portland State

Feb 22, 2014; San Diego, CA, USA; Gonzaga Bulldogs guard

, Jr. (5) tries to steal the inbounds pass from San Diego Toreros guard

(1) during the second half at Jenny Craig Pavillion. The Toreros won 69-66. Mandatory Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports

Johnny Dee led all five starters scoring in double figures as the San Diego Toreros pulled away in the second half of a home victory in the first round of the CIT by a score of 87 to 65.  San Diego held a small lead for the first half and early in the second half, until Dee’s outside shooting gave the Toreros an insurmountable point lead midway through the second half.  Dee had 22 points for the Toreros, followed by Jito Kok with 14, Brett Bailey with a career high 13, Dennis Kramer with 12, and Christopher Anderson with 11.  Other stats of note for the Toreros include Kok’s 8 rebounds and 3 blocks, Kramer’s 9 rebounds and 3 blocks, Johnny Dee’s 5 asissts (surprisingly high for him) and Anderson’s 11 assists, his 4th double-figure assist game of the season.  Notable for San Diego was the absence of Duda Sanadze, as it is still not officially known why he did not play in tonight’s game.

For Portland State, DaShaun Wiggins came off the bench to lead the Vikings in scoring as he usually does, contributing 14 points.  Former Portland Pilot Tim Douglas was the only other double figure scorer for the Vikings with 10 points on 3/8 shooting.

Keys to the Game Revisited

San Diego

✓ – Attack inside with Kramer: While Kramer did not get going until late in the game, the Toreros did a good job of getting him post touches where he was able to use that patented jump hook at will.  It did not always go in but he did manage to keep Viking big man Kyle Richardson in foul trouble for most of the second half.

Portland State

X – Make Johnny Dee work on defense: Portland did a poor job with ball movement, as there was far too much dribbling for most of the game, except for a couple of brief stretches.  Dee did not have to work overly hard on defense, which is why he had such a good game on offense, and his success opened up opportunities for his teammates.

Stat of the Night

Assist totals: San Diego, led by Anderson, dished out 24 assists, while Portland State as a team only had 5 assists.  Christopher Anderson himself had more than twice the number of assists that the whole Viking team had!  The Toreros did a much better job of ball movement, which allowed them to put up 87 points, their highest scoring output of the season.

Key Matchup

Christopher Anderson vs. Tim Douglas: Anderson won this matchup by a landslide.  In terms of point production and shooting, they were fairly even, but Anderson’s 11 assists with just 2 turnovers was leaps and bounds ahead of Douglas’ 1 assist and 3 turnovers.  Point guard play was key in this matchup, and it was Anderson who got the job done.

Moving Forward

Portland State finishes out their season at 17-15, while San Diego will move on in the CollegeInsider.com Tournament.  Because the tournament bases each round off of regional matchups (to reduce travel time), we will not know who/where the Toreros are playing until the conclusion of the CIT 1st round games tomorrow night.  Stay tuned to West Coast Convo for information on the next San Diego Toreros game.