This Week in Toros Men's Basketball
February 20, 2006

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This Week in Toros Basketball: The Toros return home to conclude their regular season hosting duties, welcoming Cal State San Bernardino and UC San Diego to the Torodome. Earlier this year, CSUDH dropped contests against both schools in late January.

Toros Win One, Lose One on NorCal Road Trip: The Toros split their NorCal trip last weekend, taking a 75-67 win at Chico State last Friday, before dropping a 92-90 heartbreaker at Sonoma State the next night.

Against the Wildcats, CSUDH used a huge 53-38 rebounding advantage to take the 9-point win as Mike Steed notched game-high totals with 18 points, including 7-of-10 from the charity stripe. Nonso Nibo chipped in 17 points on 8-of-14 shooting from the field while Trevon Bryant continued his climb up the “dominating” ladder by notching the game’s sole double-double of 11 points and 10 rebounds as CSUDH snapped a two-game skid.

The next night in Turlock, CSUDH committed 11 more turnovers than assists, which made the difference in the two-point loss despite the Toros shooting the 64.7% for the game and sinking 19-of-20 free throws in the contest. Shamont Brown led the Toros with a game-high 22 points on 9-of-12 shooting from the field, while Nibo (16 pts.), Carlos Rivers (14 pts.) and Durwin Williams (11 pts.) rounded out the CSUDH double figure scorers, with Williams also gathering 10 boards for the game’s lone double-double.

Toros Amongst the CCAA’s Best: Here’s a quick look at how the Toros stack up against the rest of the CCAA, with games played through February 18:

• Blocks - Trevon Bryant (1st, 1.89 bpg), Durwin Williams (16th, 0.53 bpg);
• FG% - Shamont Brown (4th, 55%), Carlos Rivers (13th, 47%);
• Steals - Mike Steed (6th, 1.45 spg), Carlos Rivers (8th, 1.41 spg), Shamont Brown (T17th, 1.17 spg);
• Rebounds - Durwin Williams (8th, 5.8 rpg), Shamont Brown (9th, 5.7 rpg);
• Assists - Carlos Rivers (10th, 3.18 apg), Shamont Brown (14th, 2.91 apg); Mike Steed (16th, 2.85 apg);
• Scoring - Carlos Rivers (11th, 13.5 ppg); Shamont Brown (19th, 11.4 ppg);
• Assist/Turnover Ratio - Carlos Rivers (13th, 1.09);
• 3-Pt. FG Made: Carlos Rivers (T16th, 1.5 pg).

Approaching the Record Books: Junior transfer Trevon Bryant is inching his way towards the CSUDH record books for blocks in a single season. With four games left in the regular season, Bryant is just four rejections shy of becoming the greatest defensive presence in Toro history. Currently, Bryant has 34 blocks, which includes 19 swats in his last nine games, and needs to average just 1 block per contest to establish himself as the Toros’ best. Additionally, Bryant leads the league in blocks with 1.89 denials a contest.

Former Toro great Anthony Blackmon currently holds the record of 37 blocks in a single season, which he established in the 1988-89 campaign.

What a Difference a Start Makes: Shamont Brown has come on strong as the season has progressed, earning a starting nod in the Toros’ past 20 games. In those contests, the 6’4” junior has established himself as a legitimate scoring threat, notching double-digits in 12 of those contests while averaging 12.7 points during that stretch. Additionally, he has pulled down an average of 5.8 boards per contest, raising his season average on the glass to 5.7 per game.

On the season, Brown has tallied highs of 23 points and 12 boards, with the 23-point performance occurring at Cal State L.A. on February 10, shooting for 54% from the field in that contest.

Rebound Central: After six games of being out-rebounded by 38 boards to start the season, the Toros’ hard work is paying off on the glass. During the first six games, CSUDH had out-rebounded its opponents in only two games, each by one board, while tying in the rebound category one time. Alarmingly, in the three other contests in which CSUDH was out-rebounded, the Toros were bested by eight boards in one contest, and by 14 and 18 in the other two.

However, CSUDH has taken charge of the boardroom in its past 17 contests, collecting a total of 73 more boards than their opponents to give CSUDH an overall rebounding edge for the year (33.6 to 31.8). In fact, the Toros have enjoyed four games in which they have out-rebounded opponents by at least 10 boards, including +11 against Cal Poly Pomona, +13 against Chaminade, +15 at Chico State and +33 against Dominican University.

Making His Case: After seeing action in two games off the bench to begin the 2005-06 campaign, Durwin Williams has started 14 of the Toros’ last 22 contests, including the last 10 games, and the Compton native has not disappointed. In those 14 starts, the 6’7” forward has averaged 10.3 points per game on 52-of-99 shooting from the field (53%), including seven makes from behind the 3-point arc. Additionally, Williams has been solid from the line, sinking 33-of-42 from the charity stripe, and steady on the boards, tallying 6.4 rebounds per game as a starter, tops on the team in those 14 contests.

On the season, Williams is averaging 9.1 points and 5.8 boards per game, including a season-high 14 rebounds in the Toros’ 77-68 win over Cal State Monterey Bay on January 27.

A Work in Progress: Continuing the strong offensive effort that began 2006, CSUDH has maintained its solid production on the offensive end as it has won five of its last nine contests, and hosts Cal State San Bernardino and UC San Diego to conclude its regular season home schedule. The Toros are shooting 48.3% from the field and boast six players whose percentages from the floor are at least 45%: Trevon Bryant (57%), Shamont Brown (55%), Durwin Williams (53%), Mike Steed (50%), Carlos Rivers (46%) and Nonso Nibo (45%).

Also, the Toros have overtaken their collective opponents in shooting percentage with four games left in the regular season, connecting at a 48.3% clip compared to 47% for their opponents. Behind the 3-point line, however, CSUDH still is trailing its counterparts, connecting on just 37.1% of their attempts compared to 39.1% for Toro opponents.

The Only Way to Go is Up: With last Friday’s victory at Chico State, the Toros equaled their conference win total of from the 2005-06 campaign with six conference wins, and have four games left in the regular season to surpass that total.

Thank You. No, Thank You: If there’s one glaring stat in the Toros 7-5 home record compared to their 2-7 road record, it’s the different in assists and turnovers. At home, CSUDH is enjoying a +44 in that category (204 assists / 160 turnovers) while suffering a -47 differential on the road (105 assists / 152 turnovers).

Toros Continue 2005-06 Basketball Web Cast Schedule With Waldcast.net: CSUDH and Waldcast.net continue their broadcast schedule for the Toros 06 men’s basketball season, all of which can be heard here on the Cal State Dominguez Hills Athletics Website.

The final Webcast is scheduled for March 1 @ Cal Poly Pomona.

Longtime southland broadcaster Ronnie Wald, who begins his third year as the basketball broadcast voice of the Toros, will be calling the play-by-play.