Toreros Rout Portland

San Diego 78, Portland 61 ---------------------------------------

SAN DIEGO (USD) - Brandon Johnson had 16 points and San Diego scored the first 14 points en route to a 78-61 win over Portland Saturday night. San Diego won its seventh consecutive game, matching its best conference start since the 1986-87 team began 1-1, then won its final 12. Luke Sikma scored 17 points for Portland, which has lost five of six games. Jared Stohl finished with 14 points. The Toreros hit six of their first nine shots, including all three of their 3-point attempts, to jump ahead 14-0 nearly five minutes into the game. Rob Jones scored eight of San Diego's first 11 points and Johnson hit a pair of 3-pointers.

The win keeps the Toreros (15-11, 8-1 wcc) just a half game back of Gonzaga (20-6, 9-1 wcc) who comes to town Monday for an 8 pm Big Monday ESPN2 contest. The game is a sell out and no tickets are left for the general public.