First-time meeting ‘a good tune-up’ for the season, players say.
By Chase Waite, Karl Hays
The trip from Dominguez Hills to UCLA isn’t even a half-hour, but on Oct. 31, the Toro men’s basketball team made a historic journey to the Pauley Pavilion for a head-to-head exhibition with the Bruins. The Toros started off strong but were ultimately defeated by the formidable Bruins squad, losing 97-56.
The Halloween night match-up was memorable for both the Toros and the Bruins. The game marked the first-ever meeting between the two teams on the court.
The Toros opened the game with a three-pointer from downtown. From there, the team hustled to get around UCLA’s 2-3 zone defense, working the ball around to create opportunities. But the Bruins soon found their rhythm to overcome the Toros on both offense and defense. UCLA would continue to pull away from Dominguez Hills after halftime, despite the Toros’ best efforts and aggressive play. The Toros shot just 28 percent from the field, going 18 for 64.
UCLA head coach Mike Cronin said the Toros worked hard against his team, noting that the Bruins had to change tactics to counter the Toros’ play. “We only had eight available players tonight and for what we had, they worked hard on their perimeter scoring,” Cronin said. “We did a good job trying to figure out who we were trying to be out there, especially on the defensive end.”
Freshman point guard Sebastian Mack, who led UCLA with 23 points and seven assists, said the Bruins “needed” the game. “We needed this because CSUDH keeps us on our toes and gets us prepared for the best.”
Although the final score wasn’t the outcome the Toros were hoping for, the team walked out of Westwood with invaluable experience that’s likely to be beneficial this season.
Graduate guard/forward DJ Guest and sophomore guard Jeremy Dent-Smith led the Toros in points, scoring 10 each. Guest was also flawless from the line, while Dent-Smith had two robust transition buckets.
“This was a good tune-up game for us as a team,” Dent-Smith said. “We went out there having to play hard and moving forward we will take what we learned and use it for the rest of the season.”
During the post-game press conference, Dominguez Hills head coach Steve Becker applauded UCLA for breaking down the Toros’ defense.
“Tonight was a great reminder of how you have to play fundamentally on the defensive end for all forty minutes,” Becker said. “You’ve got to remember to stay down low and slide your feet. I give all the credit to UCLA.”
In a post-game interview with the Bulletin, Dent-Smith echoed Becker’s sentiments. He said the team focused on defense during the offseason and that it would be their top priority for this season.
“I wasn’t a great defender last season so something I wanted to work on heading into this year was to be better in the passing lanes and create easy opportunities to score in transition,” said Dent-Smith.
The Toros plan to bounce back from this spooky exhibition match as they start the regular season. Their first game is Friday, Nov. 10 against Western Washington of the Northwest Athletic Conference. Tip-off is at 5:30 p.m. at the Lumberjack Arena in Arcata, CA.
