Ty-Laur Johnson banked in a 3-point shot with less than a second showing on the clock Friday night to lead the University of San Diego to an 82-80 upset victory over host UC San Diego at LionTree Arena.
Emanuel Prospere II had hit two free throws with 15.7 seconds to play to give UC San Diego a 80-79 lead – the Tritons’ first lead in the game since early in the first half.
Johnson and Toneari Lane combined for 40 points as the 5-6 Toreros beat the 10-2 Tritons at their own game. USD turned the ball over only 10 times and out-rebounded the hosts 36-31.
Johnson led all scorers with 23 points, 14 coming in the second half and the final 3 coming with only a half second showing on the clock. Lane finished with 17 points. The win was USD’s first against a Quad 1 opponent since it defeated the University of San Francisco on Feb. 8, 2019.
Vuk Boskovic hit a pair of 3s and USD went 4-for-5 from beyond the arc in the first five minutes of the second half as they shot out to a 60-46 lead. Lane and Johnson also hit threes as the Toreros out-scored UCSD 20-15 coming out of the break.
But the Tritons got back into the game with a 10-0 run that brought them back to within three at 71-68 with 6:55 to play. The team went back and forth until Prospere gave UCSD its only lead in the second half.
Bol Dengdit led UCSD with 18 points. Tom Beattie had 14, but Leo Beath was held to nine.
As it did against USC, the Toreros played a strong first half Friday night, opening up several 10-point leads while out-rebounding the hosts 24-16 with 10 offensive rebounds leading to 10 second-chance points and a 40-31 lead at intermission.
UCSD shot only 38.7% (12-for-31) from the floor and was 2-for-14 from beyond the arc.