A golden opportunity to gain ground in the standings slipped away from the Toreros Thursday night against the visiting Pacific Tigers.
The University of San Diego fell 67-55 despite getting 16 points from junior guard Olin Carter III.
Roberto Gallinat scored a game-high 21 points for the visitors including a key trey right before intermission which extended Pacific’s lead to 29-24.
The Tigers quickly expanded that lead to ten at the start of the second half and led by as many as 17.
USD cut the deficit to five points with just over two minutes remaining but could not completely dig out of the hole.
Cameron Neubauer added 15 points but no other Toreros landed in double figures.
With the loss, San Diego fell to 16-11 overall and 7-8 in WCC play.
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Coach Lamont Smith and his squad have just two home games remaining this regular season including Saturday’s contest against BYU at 1 p.m.
The top six seeds in the WCC will avoid playing an extra game in the conference tournament this March.
After Thursday’s results, San Diego, Santa Clara and San Francisco are all tied for 5th with 7-8 league records.
One of those three would have to play in the first round against the lowly 10th seed (likely Pepperdine).
