Tony Duckett made four free throws in the final three seconds Thursday afternoon to give the University of San Diego’s men’s basketball team an 81-77 victory over Pacific in an opening-round game of the West Coast Conference basketball tournament in Las Vegas.
Both the last-seeded USD men’s and women’s teams scored upset wins at the Orleans Events Center to advance to Friday’s second round.
First, the Toreros women (7-23) went on a 16-0 run over 5½ minutes in the first quarter on the way to a 66-59 win against Pepperdine (8-22).
Then the men (6-26) rallied in the second half to win a second straight game against Pacific (9-24).
The USD women will play No. 7 seed Pacific (13-17) at 2:30 p.m. Friday. The Toreros men will play seventh-seeded Loyola Marymount (16-14) at 8:30 p.m.
Thursday’s men’s game was tied 17-17 with 16 seconds to play when USD took a timeout. The Toreros’ next possession went to Duckett, who was fouled while shooting with three seconds left. Duckett made both free throws, then stole the inbounds , was fouled again and hit two more with one second remaining.
A freshman out of Carlsbad High School, Duckett led USD with 21 points. Kody Clouet scored 20. Six-foot-10 center Steven Jamerson II had 18 points, eight rebounds, five assists, two blocked shots and three steals. And 6-11 forward David Simon had 13 points, seven rebounds and seven assists.
For the USD women, forward Truitt Reilly and guard Kylie Horstmeyer each scored 20 points and Reilly led the Toreros with 13 rebounds. Guard Ava Ranson scored 12 points with eight assists and guard Hallie Rhodes had 10 points and six assists.
Reilly, Horstmeyer and Rhodes played all 40 minutes while Ranson played 39. The Toreros shot 47.3% (26-for-55) from the floor and went 14-for-15 from the foul line with a 37-25 edge in rebounds.
The Toreros aren’t the only San Diego college scheduled to play Friday.
Point Loma Nazarene University’s two champion teams from the regular PacWest Conference season begin postseason play as No. 1 seeds in the semifinals of the conference tournament at Dominican University in San Rafael. The PLNU women (23-5) will play Westmont (18-10) at 2:45 p.m. The PLNU men (25-5) will play the winner of Thursday’s Hawaii-Hilo (18-12) vs. Concordia (16-11) game at 7:15 p.m.
The Sea Lions men could host the NCAA Division II West Regionals if they win the PacWest Tournament.
