Toros Men’s Basketball Shocks Silverswords, Defeat Chaminade 97-92 for Third-Straight Win
Rivers tallies 22 points as four Toros reach double-figure scoring
January 30, 2006

Complete Box Score

Carson, CA -- Riding the momentum of consecutive conference wins last week, an inspired Cal State Dominguez Hills men's basketball team played a game for the ages in a 97-92 thriller against Chaminade University, increasing the Toros’ win streak to three games. Led by Carlos Rivers’ (Long Beach, CA/LA Valley College) team-high 22 points, including a perfect 7-for-7 from the free throw line, the Toros improve to 7-10, while the Silverswords, ranked 3rd in the West, fall to 14-6.

CSUDH played its best ball of the year to open the game, racing to a 35-13 lead with just 10 minutes elapsed in the opening frame. Led by Chaminade’s three-point acumen, however, the visitors would trim the lead to 37-28 on a Chris Reaves bomb, one of three 3-pointers Reaves would hit in the first half.

After exchanging buckets, two Jonathan Toliver (Inglewood, CA/Westchester HS) treys would increase the Toros’ lead to 45-31 with just under two minutes remaining, but a Reaves slam and a 3-pointer by Chris Nelson would again chip the lead to single digits at the 1:08 mark, where it would remain as CSUDH entered intermission with a 47-38 advantage.

Finding its stroke to begin the second half, Chaminade cut the deficit to 51-48 on a Chris Powell lay-up at the 16:53 mark. A Shamont Brown (Jamaica, NY/Riverside CC) jumper and Kevin Crockett (Long Beach, CA/CSULB) trey sandwiching a Sword turnover would put distance between the two schools at 56-48, but a Nelson lay-up, two Zack Whiting free throws and a Powell dunk brought CSUDH’s lead down to 56-54.

After Brown answered the Chaminade run with a trey of his own, two Reaves buckets brought the visitors to 61-60 at the 12:12 mark, after which Toliver would again answer the charge with another 3-pointer at the 11:07 mark. Four-consecutive Silversword free throws later, the game would be tied, and another Powell dunk, the third in a span of five minutes, would give the visitors their first lead since the game’s opening minutes.

Rivers would soon take over, scoring four of his team’s next seven buckets, including a trey at 6:17 to bring momentum back CSUDH’s way. Feeding off Rivers’ hot hand, Mario Malave (Emeryville, CA/Bakersfield College) and Mike Steed (Antelope, CA/Center HS) would hit consecutive buckets to push CSUDH’s lead to 84-79 with just under five minutes left in regulation.

The visitors, however, would take the lead on a Nelson 3-pointer with 2:29 remaining. That would be the final lead of the night for Chaminade, however, as a Malave jumper in the paint gave CSUDH the advantage for good with just over two minutes left. After a Chaminade miss, Rivers and Steed accounted for four-consecutive makes from the foul line, with Rivers’ final two giving CSUDH a 94-89 lead with 29 ticks left.

After Malave chipped in a free throw, the final Nelson trey of the night gave the visitors one last chance, but Rivers would drain two free throws with just five seconds remaining, sealing the Toro victory.

Brown finished with 19 for the Toros, while Malave’s 13 and Toliver’s 12 rounded out CSUDH’s double-figure scorers.

Reaves led Chaminade with a game-high 27 points and was bolstered by Nelson’s 20, Powell’s 17 and Whiting’s 12 points in the loss.

Both teams sizzled from the floor, with CSUDH finishing the game at a 53.6% clip from the field, 52.4% from behind the arc, and 92.3% from the free throw line (11-for-12), while Chaminade shot 52.5% from the field, 53.6% from 3-point line and a perfect 12-for-12 form the foul line.

CSUDH gained the advantage on second chance points, converting seven more than the visitors.

The Toros continue CCAA conference play with northern California foes Sonoma State and San Francisco State visiting Carson the weekend of February 3-4, with tipoff for both contests scheduled for 7:30 p.m. in the Torodome.