Sometimes the box score explains everything.
Such was the case Saturday night when UC San Diego emerged with a 77-71 win over USD at Jenny Craig Pavilion.
The Tritons (11-2) did plenty of good things in winning their ninth straight game and earning a win over the Toreros (3-9) for a second consecutive season but one statistic stood out: 31-7.
That was the final margin in points scored off of turnovers and for the Tritons, that was more than enough to hand USD a fifth straight loss
Another telling set of number from the final stat sheet: 31-10.
That was the gap in fast-break points and for the visitors from La Jolla, most of those buckets came from a season-high 23 forced turnovers.
Tyler McGhie finished with a game-high 25 points went 7 of 10 from 3-point range while Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones scored 15 points with six assists and Hayden Gray scored nine with a career-high seven steals for the Tritons, who are ranked No. 17 in the latest Mid-Major Top 25 poll.
Santiago Trouet paced the Toreros with nine points and a career-high 20 rebounds, Joey Chammaa scored a career-high 14 points and Benji Pierre and Tony Duckett each finished with nine points.
USD shot 50.9% from the field to UC San Diego’s 46.2%, made 10 3-pointers to the Tritons’ eight and finished with a 36-24 rebounding edge but those pesky turnovers and what the visitors did with them made the difference.
The Tritons, who entered as 13.5-point favorites, led for all but 29 seconds of game clock and came up with a big stop, steal, or basket whenever the Toreros threatened to make things interesting.
“I think that’s a real strength for our team; we have a lot of composure,” UC San Diego coach Eric Olen said. “ We don’t get fazed. We’ve played some close games, have had to make plays late in games. The games we’ve played to this point have us in a good place relative to the time of the year. I think these games have prepared us well.”
The Tritons jumped out to a 25-14 lead when Aidan Burke buried a 3-pointer off a feed from Tait-Jones at 7:56 of the first half, but USD hung around and used a 9-0 run capped by a Bradley layup to draw within 25-23.
UC San Diego took a 32-28 lead into halftime and a big reason was turning 15 Torero turnovers into 17 points and a 16-2 edge in fast-break points.
Gray, who entered the night averaging a nation-high 3.67 steals per game, came up with five steals in the first half alone.
“That’s something we work on,” Gray said. “It’s nice to know that we can shoot worse than a team, maybe get outrebounded and still come away with a win. I think we have a lot of guys who are very active and cover up for one another. It allows us to play an aggressive style of defense.”
For USD, the loss felt like so many this season. There were stretches of excellent play yet each time an opportunity to seize control presented itself, a turnover inevitably followed
“When we were able to force them to play in the halfcourt, we were effective,” USD coach Steve Lavin said. “But because of the point differential with points off turnovers and our turnovers fueling their fastbreak, that was the difference. Those empty possessions hurt you. You don’t get fouled. You don’t get the second chance points. It just robs you of cohesion. That was key tonight.”
Next up: USD plays Grand Canyon in the West Coast Hoops showdown on Saturday at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood. 3:30 p.m. No TV or streaming. UCSD hosts Occidental on Saturday at 4 p.m. LionTree Arena. Streaming: ESPN+.
