CSUDH Schools The Master’s College in 84-76 Win to Pick Up Third-Straight Victory
Brown tallies 18 points on 7-of-11 shooting to lead three Toros in double-figure scoring
December 16, 2006

Complete Box Score

Carson, CA -- Senior Shamont Brown (Jamaica, NY/Riverside CC) connected for a team-high 18 points to lead a balanced Toro attack as CSUDH took an 84-76 non-conference win over The Master’s College Saturday night at the Torodome. With the win, CSUDH evens its record to 3-3 on the year, while TMC falls to 4-6.

Carlos Rivers (Long Beach, CA/LA Valley College) got the Toros off quickly as he connected for a 3-pointer on CSUDH’s first possession of the contest, only to see the visitors tie the game at 5-5 and keep it close the rest of the half. A Jamaal Barnes (Compton, CA/Compton JC) lay-up at 11:13 knotted the game at 16-16, and led a Toro run that saw CSUDH outscore TMC 7-0 for a 23-16 advantage. CSUDH pushed its lead to 30-21 on a Jonathan Toliver (Inglewood, CA/Westchester HS) trey, his only bucket of the first half, eventually entering the locker room up 43-35.

Toliver continued his hot shooting after the break, connecting on another 3-pointer to give CSUDH its first double-digit lead at 50-39 just two minutes into the second half. A Ryan Zamroz trey and Lucian Pesoli jumper brought the Mustangs back to within 52-49, but a Rivers lay-up was followed by two Brown foul shots and yet another Toliver trey, giving CSUDH a 10-point lead at 59-49.

The Mustangs wouldn’t quit, however, using two Pesoli foul shots at the 10:37 mark to whittle CSUDH’s lead to 65-62, but Toliver would connect for consecutive 3-pointers to push the lead to 71-62, after which a Jamel Ward (Los Angeles, CA/Inglewood HS) foul shot, a Trevon Bryant (Tifton, GA/Compton CC) bucket and two more Ward free throws gave the Toros a 76-62 lead with 5:05 left in regulation. Stellar free throw shooting by The Master’s College would keep its offense running as time wound down, but the Toros would seal the deal with clutch free throw shooting themselves to take the 8-point win.

TMC’s Pesoli led all scorers with 28 points on 8-of-19 shooting from the floor and 12-of-14 from the foul line, while Zamroz contributed 23 points in the loss. Rivers and Toliver wound up with 16 points apiece as the Toros connected for 52.5% from the field and 72.2% from the charity stripe in the win.

Defense played a huge role for the Toros as Bryant picked up a game-high three blocks and Rivers drew two charges in the second half to set the tone of the final 20-minute session.

CSUDH concludes its 2006 homestand as CCAA rival UC San Diego pays the Torodome a visit on Wednesday, December 20, with first tip scheduled for 7:30 pm.