TOREROS HIT THE GLASS, HANG ON TO BEAT LIONS

Less than an hour before tipoff against Loyola Marymount, USD head coach Sam Scholl was talking about rebounding.

“You can only teach so much technique,” said Scholl. Then he tapped his heart and said, “A lot of it's got to come from here.”

Saturday night inside Jenny Craig Pavilion, the Toreros came to crash the glass and it turned out to be the difference in a 70-65 win over the Lions. USD outrebounded LMU 39-28. Offensive rebounds: USD 13, LMU 8. Second-chance points: Toreros 11, Lions. 3.

“That was the key,” said

Scholl after the game. “That rebounding effort. We've been on them about that. For the guys, if anything else just make it important. And they valued it. They made it important, and they did it against a good team.”

LMU fell to 7-7, 0-2 in the West Coast Conference.

St. John's transfer Marcellus Earlington and former Texas A&M Aggie Yavuz Gultekin did the heavy lifting on the glass, each pulling down 12 boards. They each scored 11 points, turning in doubledoubles for the second game in a row.

Four players scored in double figures for USD with Terrell-brown Soares leading the way with 13 on

5 of 7 shooting. After shooting 0 for 9 and failing to score in Thursday's comeback win against Portland, Joey Calcaterra scored 12 points, including four free throws in the final 39.4 seconds.

The victory was a significant one for USD (10-7, 3-1 WCC) as it was the first time in more than four years the Toreros have won three straight WCC games.

Of the three straight wins, Scholl said, “It means everything about our players and the job they're doing. They are buying into being together, into what we want to do defensively. Buying into sharing the ball, looking for each other. It's all about them. They're the ones doing it.”

USD took a 21-19 lead with 8:04 to play in the first half on a Josh Parrish basket and never trailed again. With 2:55 to play in the half, the lead swelled to a gamehigh 13, 34-21.

But LMU closed on an 8-0 run and it was game on.

USD stretched its lead to 10 points in the second half but the Lions wouldn't go away, closing to within five (61-56) with 1:48 remaining.

But the Toreros were clutch at the line in the final 54.5 seconds, hitting seven free throws.

LMU'S Eli Scott led all players with 27 points.

The Toreros won despite struggling again on 3 pointers. USD was 3 of 15 from deep. In the last five games USD is 17 of 85 behind the arc (20 percent).

Putting together three straight wins was significant to the players.

“It means a lot, especially because it was the next-man-up mentality,” said Earlington. “We worked hard in practice. We believed in ourselves. We knew there were a lot of doubters going into the season.

Toreros at BYU Thursday:

6 p.m., Marriott Center, Provo, Utah CBSSN

On the air: We believe in ourselves and the belief shows.”

Of the team's work on the glass, Gultekin said, “Coach Martin Bahar put on the board before the game that it's just toughness. We had to be tough to beat this team. We knew the game plan and it worked for us.”