By Kyle Jorrey
Sports Editor
Sometimes amid a difficult losing streak, team’s can fall apart. Players start turning on players, teammates start pointing fingers, and frustration leads to exasperation. But not when it comes to the Waves.
Despite a season of adversity and a three-game drought, the team headed into Firestone Fieldhouse last Saturday night against Portland confident and determined, and played some of its best basketball of the season. The Waves (12-10, 4-5 in WCC), excelling in every aspect of the game, dominated the Pilots 82-62 with the help of strong defense and a balanced offense attack.
By putting together 40 solid minutes of basketball, the team reminded Waves fans of just how good this team can be when it plays to its potential.
“It felt like last year,” sophomore guard Terrence Johnson said of the game. “We had the confidence that every time we went down the floor we were going to get a bucket, and we weren’t going to let them get any easy scores on the defensive end.”
Senior Jimmy Miggins led the Waves attack with a game-high 17 points, as Johnson finished right behind him with 14.
After a quick start, the players first began to put distance between them and the opponent with the help of sharp-shooting senior guard Mike Westphal. With the score at 22-19 in favor of the Waves, Westphal knocked down two consecutive treys to put his team up nine. He finished four-out-of-four from three-point range with 12 points.
With less than six minutes remaining in the half, Miggins, determined not to see the Waves drop another conference match, took it upon himself to provide the scoring. The forward, displaying his lighting quick spin move and deadly fall away shot, scored the final seven points of the half.
Senior Dustin Johnson, who saw more minutes than usual and finished with five points, said the Waves performance was a just a matter of momentum.
“It was one of those things when everyone starts playing well and you start realizing what you can do, and it just feeds off itself,” Johnson said. “We started off the game good and we just carried that into the second half … it was probably the best 40 minutes of basketball we’ve played since December.”
A new half just brought more impressive Waves play, especially on the defensive end. Every time down the floor Portland was forced into a long shot, and when they weren’t, sophomore high-flyer Rob Turner came calling.
Providing stops that resembled volleyball spikes more than blocks, Turner, who finished with a season-high four blocks, continually sent Pilot shots back into the stands.
“Rob’s defense was just disgusting,” Dustin Johnson said.
With defense leading to fast breaks, the Waves continually finished with force. Miggins slammed home two monstrous jams and Johnson took an alley-oop pass from freshman guard Alex Acker that left the score at 63-44.
But of all the game’s highlights, it was a Terrence Johnson shot and not a dunk that was most entertaining.
While trying to contest a long Portland shot, Johnson found himself falling out of bounds and into the stands. What happened next left the Firestone crowd in an uproar.
“I wanted to get back on the court,” Johnson said. “But there wasn’t any opening for me to get back inbounds. So I just ran all the way down the sidelines.”
With the Waves now on the offensive end, Johnson took a flying leap over the chairs on the bench and found himself wide open beyond the three-point arc.
“I was just trying to get on the court, and then I realized they didn’t see me,” the sophomore said. “So I just called for the ball, got the pass, and took the shot.”
Finding nothing but net, Johnson, unable not to laugh at the bizarre play, smiled all the way back down the floor.
“The fans were in it the whole game, that just added fuel to the fire,” Johnson said. “We were all playing good and we were having fun, and that’s when things started going our way.”
After finishing up with an 11-0 run, the Waves ended the game ahead 20 points. They shot a stellar 55.4 percent for the game, and went eight-for-18 from three-point range. Portland finished just 33.3 percent from the floor.
Senior forward Boomer Brazzle, who finished with 16 points on six-of-10 shooting and a game-high nine rebounds, said it was an important victory for the team to get things headed back in the right direction.
“It was cool we were able to bounce back from the loss to Gonzaga,” Brazzle said. “We need to just try and finish up the season and keep winning games.”
Today, the Waves are in San Diego trying to avenge a home-loss to the Toreros early in the season; USD is currently second in the WCC. After Gonzaga was shocked at Loyola Marymount last week for the Zags’ first WCC loss of the season, the Waves have renewed confidence that they can still finish on top of the conference.
“That just lets you know how wide open the conference is,” Terrence Johnson said. “If we can just keep up the intensity and keep playing 40 minutes of basketball, than we know we can win.”
February 13, 2003