SAN FRANCISCO (Interstat) — In a West Coast Conference men’s basketball opener defined by grinding defense and offensive inefficiency, the San Francisco Dons used a decisive second-half surge to pull away from the San Diego Toreros for a 74-64 victory on Friday night at War Memorial Gymnasium.

A crowd of 1,048 saw the Dons improve to 10-6 overall and 1-0 in conference play, while the Toreros fell to 6-9 and 0-1.

The game’s most critical sequence unfolded midway through the second half, transforming a narrow contest into a comfortable San Francisco lead. After a back-and-forth first half that ended with the Dons clinging to a 29-28 advantage, San Diego’s Dominique Ford came alive early after halftime. The Las Vegas native scored nine quick points, including a driving layup that gave the Toreros a 36-34 edge with 16 minutes remaining.

San Francisco responded with the game’s defining run. Sparked by their defense and dominance on the offensive glass, the Dons unleashed a 14-2 burst over the next four and a half minutes. The stretch was emblematic of the entire game: it featured missed shots, physical play, and crucial second chances. Junjie Wang, the 6-foot-9 forward from China, was instrumental, scoring on a tip-in and drawing fouls, while Tyrone Riley and Legend Smiley added key buckets. When Smiley drilled a 3-pointer off a Vukasin Masic assist at the 12:43 mark, the Dons led 48-38, their first double-digit advantage of the night.

San Diego never recovered. The Toreros, who shot just 4 for 22 from 3-point range for the game, could not muster a sustained counter-run. Every time they scored, San Francisco answered, often by exploiting a 12-3 advantage in offensive rebounds that led to a 15-2 margin in second-chance points.

Riley, a junior from Watts, California, led all scorers with 22 points for San Francisco, adding six rebounds. Smiley provided a vital spark off the bench with 15 points, and Ryan Beasley orchestrated the offense with 13 points and six assists. Wang finished with 12 points, nine rebounds and three assists, anchoring the paint.

For San Diego, Adrian McIntyre of Sylmar, California, scored 16 points, and Juanse Gorosito of Argentina added 15. Ford finished with 13 points, all in the second half. The Toreros were hampered by their inability to generate clean looks, managing only seven assists against 10 turnovers and posting an offensive rating of 90.5 points per 100 possessions.

The first half set the tone for a rugged affair. Both teams combined to shoot 8 for 57 from beyond the arc. San Diego built an early 9-3 lead, but San Francisco chipped away, with Riley’s hook shot just before the halftime buzzer providing the Dons’ slim one-point lead at the break.

The victory allowed San Francisco to cover the pregame spread of 11 points, though the total score of 138 fell well under the over/under line of 148.5. The Dons’ win probability was projected at 96.7% by Interstat’s ELO system.

San Diego will look to rebound quickly, traveling to face Santa Clara on Sunday. San Francisco continues its homestand, also on Sunday, against Portland.