Feb. 19, 2005

Box Score

Santa Clara, CA (Feb. 19) - In a game that featured a combined 46 team fouls, it spelled trouble for the Loyola Marymount University men's basketball team as they fell to Santa Clara in another tough West Coast Conference battle, 78-70, on Saturday afternoon at the Leavey Center.

The Lions defense once again kept them in the game, forcing 17 Santa Clara turnovers, gathering 12 steals and scoring 24 points off turnovers. Sophomore Wes Wardrop led the Lions with a career-high 22 points, hitting on 4-for-7 from the three-point line, and grabbing two steals.

Sophomore Matthew Knight added 12 points for the Lions. Doron Perkins and Travis Niesen did the damage for the Broncos, combining for 44 points. Niesen did the damage in the second half and scored 23. Perkins added 21.

LMU falls to 11-15 on the season and 3-10 in the WCC while Santa Clara improves to 14-13 overall and 7-5 in the WCC.

The Lions held a 44-42 lead with 14:48 remaining in the final half. The teams traded leads and no team lead by more than four until Santa Clara used a late 8-2 run that was led by Niesen's 17 second half points to separate from the Lions, taking a 10-point lead at 3:58 in the fourth quarter.

LMU would cut the lead to six with nine seconds remaining on three free throws by Wardrop, but it wasn't enough.

It was a physical contest from the start as the teams combined for 24 first half fouls, putting key players for both teams in early foul trouble. Brandon Worthy, Damian Martin, Charles Brown, John Haywood, Chris Ayer and Dustin Brown all had two fouls. Perkins and Sean Denison each had two for the Broncos.

The Broncos finished the game hitting 30-for-35 from the charity stripe while LMU was 16-for-23. The Lions struggled from the floor, shooting 36.5 percent from the floor while Santa Clara responded after shooting just 28 percent in the first half to finish hitting 42 percent for the game.

With the foul trouble the Lions got big production from their bench. Dustin Brown added seven and John Montgomery came in for big minutes on the depleted back court to score six points.

The Lions will close the regular season next Saturday at Pepperdine. The game will be at 7 p.m. and broadcast on Fox Sports Net West.

- GO LIONS -