By Miguel Angel Lomeli
Staff Writer
The men’s basketball team traveled to Honolulu for the Hoops in Hawaii Thanksgiving Classic tournament.
The team’s first game was Nov. 24, where the Toros defeated Hawaii Pacific 77-73.
Freshman Colten Kresl led the way for the Toros, scoring a season-high 30 points on 9/19 shooting while hitting seven of the team’s 10 3-pointers.
It was a night of a lot of rebounding, as Domniguez Hills and Pacific shot under 38 percent. Pacific gave the game away, literally, with 19 turnovers.
It took the Toros overtime to win but the squad managed to hold off Pacific’s comeback bid.
The next game for the Toros was on Nov. 24, where they had another close game, but this time they were on the losing end. The Toros lost to Adams State, 83-82, after giving up a 10-point halftime lead.
It was another freshman that led the Toros in Hawaii, as Malcolm Johnson dropped 24 points and grabbed 17 rebounds in the loss.
Turnovers came back to haunt the Toros in another one-possession game, as they coughed up 18 turnovers.
Their final game was on Nov. 26 versus Chaminade, where they fell short 85-81.
The men had to fight back to make it a close game after finding themselves in a 12-point deficit at halftime, thanks to a poor shooting performance. They shot just 28% from the field at the half.
After adjustments were made at the break, the Toros improved their shooting and had the game within reach, trailing 75-74, with about a minute and a half left.
Chimande was able to outscore the Toros in the final minute, 10-7, with half of their points coming at the free-throw line.
The Toros return to California and to conference play with two away games, Dec. 1 at Sonoma State and Dec. 2 against San Francisco State.
