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Sometimes the box score explains everything.
Such was the case Saturday night when UC San Diego emerged with a 77-71 win over USD at Jenny Craig Pavilion.
The Tritons (11-2) did plenty of good things in winning their ninth straight game and earning a win over the Toreros (3-9) for a second consecutive season but one statistic stood out: 31-7.
That was the final margin in points scored off of turnovers and for the Tritons, that was more than enough to hand USD a fifth straight loss
Another telling set of number from the final stat sheet: 31-10.
That was the gap in fast-break points and for the visitors from La Jolla, most of those buckets came from a season-high 23 forced turnovers.
Tyler McGhie finished with a game-high 25 points went 7 of 10 from 3-point range while Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones scored 15 points with six assists and Hayden Gray scored nine with a career-high seven steals for the Tritons, who are ranked No. 17 in the latest Mid-Major Top 25 poll.
Santiago Trouet paced the Toreros with nine points and a career-high 20 rebounds, Joey Chammaa scored a career-high 14 points and Benji Pierre and Tony Duckett each finished with nine points.
USD shot 50.9% from the field to UC San Diego’s 46.2%, made 10 3-pointers to the Tritons’ eight and finished with a 36-24 rebounding edge but those pesky turnovers and what the visitors did with them made the difference.
The Tritons, who entered as 13.5-point favorites, led for all but 29 seconds of game clock and came up with a big stop, steal, or basket whenever the Toreros threatened to make things interesting.
The Tritons jumped out to a 25-14 lead when Aidan Burke buried a 3-pointer off a feed from Tait-Jones at 7:56 of the first half, but USD hung around and used a 9-0 run capped by a Bradley layup to draw within 25-23.
UC San Diego took a 32-28 lead into halftime and a big reason was turning 15 Torero turnovers into 17 points and a 16-2 edge in fast-break points.
Gray, who entered the night averaging a nation-high 3.67 steals per game, came up with five steals in the first half alone.
Next up: USD plays Grand Canyon in the West Coast Hoops showdown on Saturday at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood. 3:30 p.m. No TV or streaming. UCSD hosts Occidental on Saturday at 4 p.m. LionTree Arena. Streaming: ESPN+.
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