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Brandon Worthy and the Lions will try to make it two in a row on Monday.

Men's Basketball

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Jan. 8, 2006

Loyola Marymount (4-11/1-0) vs San Francisco (5-9/1-0)

Monday, Jan. 9 - 7:05 p.m. PT
Gersten Pavilion (4,156) - Los Angeles, CA
Ticket Information
Game Notes in PDF Format
Live Audio/Video | GameTracker
Television: None

After five heartbreakers during the non-conference season, the Loyola Marymount men's basketball team finally got one back with a buzzer beater win over San Diego to open play in the West Coast Conference on Saturday. The Lions will look to put together their first winning streak of the season when the continue the two-game homestand against San Francisco on Monday, Jan. 9 at 7:05 p.m. Both teams are coming off a win in conference that snapped skids to end non-conference. The game can be heard on Lions' All-Access through KXLU 88.9 FM and LMULions.com.

THE MATCH-UP
Both LMU and USF entered the start of conference play looking to reverse a tough end to non-conference play. The Lions did it in dramatic fashion with a Chris Ayer jumper at the buzzer to snap a five-game skid. As for USF, they did it on the road at Pepperdine, earning a come-from-behind 71-63 win to end a four-game skid. This will be the 127th meeting in the series and USF has been dominate in seasons past with a 95-31 record in the series. However, the Lions swept the series a year ago, the first series sweep since 1991.

RECENT NOTES

  • The Lions' roster features four seniors who have combined to play in a combined 371 games together. For Chris Ayer the game against San Francisco will be his 100th career game as a Lion. He will become just the 18th player in LMU history to hit the century mark and the third in the last three years. Charles Brown hit the mark a year ago and Sherman Gay made the century mark in 2003-04.
  • After dropping five non-conference games on the final play, the Lions finally reversed that trend at the right time. Senior Chris Ayer hit the first game winning shot of his career (both college and high school) to give LMU a dramatic come-from-behind win over USD to open conference. Heading into the game, the Lions had dropped five games this season by a combined 11 points, all five coming down to the buzzer. The Lions fell to South Alabama 81-80 in overtime as the Jaguars hit a shot at the buzzer. They then dropped a 71-69 decision to USC as LMU's three at the buzzer bounced out. In the Rainbow Classic, the Lions dropped three by a combined eight points. Brandon Worthy had his three-pointer blocked as time expired in a 63-60 setback to Hawaii. Western Michigan hit a tip-in as the buzzer sounded to steal a 62-61 win and then, down two, John Montgomery had his three pointer bounce on the rim three times before falling out with six seconds remaining in a 54-50 setback to South Florida.
  • The 86 points and 56.1 percent shooting effort from the field against the Toreros was the Lions' best of the season. The Lions scored 83 in the win over BYU to open the season and 85 in the setback to Long Beach. The Lions, who entered the conference opener at the bottom of the WCC in shooting percentage, broke out with a 37-for-66 effort against USD. LMU outscored the Toreros 42-26 in the paint as big men Chris Ayer and Matthew Knight did the damage with 17 and 22 points, respectively. The previous high for the Lions from the field was 47.7 percent against BYU. The Lions also set a season high with 26 assists, including seven from Brandon Worthy and six from Wes Wardrop.
  • Line-up changes: Daryl Pegram did not dress for the first time this season due to soreness in his knee against Northern Colorado and did not dress against USD. Also not on the trip to end the year was Adoyah Miller, who continues to be out of the line-up with a shoulder strain. Corey Counts, who was expected to earn more playing time, did not make the trip after breaking his jaw when he was intentionally fouled against Northern Colorado. All three are out for the game against USF. In addition, Vitor Boccardo, in his second season from Brazil, has left the team to tend to family matters back in Rio de Janiero. He had played 16 minutes in five games this season.

    RECORD BOOK

  • Wes Wardrop, the fourth-year player from Anaheim leads the team with 67 assists and with his seven against UNLV, he has cracked the top-10 list in LMU history. He added six more to close non-conference and he now has 252 in his career replacing Tom Peabody for 10th all-time in career assists. Floyd Hooper (1977-78) is ninth with 264. Wardrop leads the team with 32 three-pointers on the year, adding four to his total against San Diego State, giving him 112 in his career at LMU. He is now in eighth place all-time at LMU, replacing Craig Holt, Jim Williamson and Willie Allen in career three-pointers made.
  • Senior Chris Ayer had four blocks against South Alabama, his second four-block game of the early season. With 14 blocks on the season, Ayer has made a major jump in the LMU record books. He entered the season tied for fifth all-time with 72 career blocks. He has moved to fourth all-time with 86 and needs 6 to tie Ime Odouk for third. The all-time record is held by Sherman Gay with 144.

    THE DONS
    The Dons were picked to finish sixth in the West Coast Conference but made a statement with a 71-63 win over Pepperdine to open the WCC. They enter the game 5-9 overall and 1-0 in the WCC. The Dons had five players in double figures against the Waves, including 18 points and seven rebounds from forward Alan Wiggins. The junior leads the team in points (14.2) and rebounds (7.4). They have four players in double figures on the season, with Armondo Surrat with 13.1, Dommanic Ingerson at 10.4 and Jerome Gumbs at 10.4. As a team they average 68.6 points, shooting 43.2 percent from the field.

    DOUBLE-DOUBLES
    The double-doubles by both Matthew Knight (22 points & 10 rebounds) and Chris Ayer (15 & 10) in the win over BYU was the first time the Lions had teammates do it in the same game since Ime Odouk and Wyking Jones in 1994-95. With Knight's eighth career double-double against Hawaii, he has jumped to 18th all-time in LMU history for double-doubles, tied with Greg Hunter. His six this season is the most since Elton Mashack had seven in 1998-99. Ayer added his second of the season and third of his career with 21 points and 10 rebounds against Western Michigan.

    FOUR STRAIGHT
    By playing just 16 minutes against USC after suffering a concussion at the start of the second half, junior Matthew Knight had his four-game double-double stretch come to an end. Knight put together double-doubles against South Alabama, Long Beach State, UC Santa Barbara, and Montana, as he averaged 21.8 points and 13.3 rebounds in those four games. He became the first player in 11 seasons to claim four consecutive double-doubles. Wyking Jones last did it from Jan. 10, 1994 through Jan. 20, 1994. He is just the sixth player in LMU history to have a consecutive game stretch of four or more, joining a list that includes Jim Haderlein, Steve Smith, Hank Gathers, Brad Dean, and Jones. All five finished in the top-25 all-time in LMU scoring. Knight is currently eighth in the WCC in scoring with 15.6 points per game and leads the league in rebounding with 8.9 per game. He is also 10th in field goal percentage (53.2), third in offensive rebounds (3.07) and first in defensive rebounds (5.86).

    30 AND 15
    Matthew Knight scored 32 points with 18 rebounds against Long Beach State. The performance ranks as one of LMU's all-time best performances. He becomes just the seventh player in LMU history to score 30 or more points with 15 or more rebounds. After going just 4-for-13 from the field with nine points and six rebounds in the first half, he exploded in the second, going 9-for-12 with 23 points and 12 rebounds. Last season he was the first player since Ime Oduok in 1994 to have back-to-back double-double games. And he joins the Oduok as the last player to do back-to-back double-doubles in consecutive seasons. Jim Haderlein (Feb. 21, 1969 to Jan. 28, 1970) and Steve Smith (Jan. 4, 1972 to Dec. 4, 1972) hold the record with 20 consecutive games with a double-double.

    FANTASTIC FOUR
    Entering their fourth year for the Lions this season will be seniors Wes Wardrop (G, 6-3, 185, Anaheim, CA), John Haywood (F, 6-6, 200, Chino, CA), Chris Ayer (C, 6-10, 250, Tucson, AZ) and Dustin Brown (F, 6-7, 225, San Rafael, CA). The group has combined to play in 371 games together (Ayer-99, Wardrop-95, Brown-92, Haywood-85) and coach Rodney Tention said they would be a key piece to the coming season. Ayer and Wardrop had big starts to their final season. Haywood had his best game of the season with 11 points and nine rebounds against USC on Dec. 10, playing 29 minutes off the bench. He earned the start against Northern Colorado on Saturday.

    GRAND FINALE
    Senior Wes Wardrop is proving to be the leader the Lions hoped he would be as the most experienced senior. Wardrop is second on the team in scoring with 12.7 points per game, jumping his average more than two points the last two games thanks to 19 against San Diego State and San Diego. He set his career high with 25 points against South Alabama. He went 8-for-18 from the field and 3-for-8 from the three-point line. He is first on the team with 67 assists and second with 21 steals while averaging more than 35 minutes per game. He was the first WCC Player of the Week of the 2005-06 season for his performance in guiding the Lions to an 83-71 win at BYU in their season opener. He finished with 19 points, four rebounds, four assists, and three steals.

    AYER TIME
    Like his four-year teammate, senior Chris Ayer just keeps adding to his record-breaking season. For the first time in his high school and college career, Ayer delivered the game winner at the buzzer against San Diego, hitting his 17th point on the game. He has had his first 20-point games of his career, including a career-best 22 against Northern Colorado and 21 against Western Michigan. Ayer's improved season is most evident from the charity stripe. The Tucson, Ariz., navtive entered the season a 56.0 percent free throw shooter. In 2005-06 he is currently ranked 13th in the West Coast Conferfence with a 68.8 free throw percentage. He is also seventh with 1.1 blocks per game, 10th in shooting percentage from the field (53.9), 11th with 5.9 rebounds per game and 26th in scoring (9.5 points per game).

    THE COACHES' POLL
    According to the coaches of the West Coast Conference, Loyola Marymount University men's basketball has been picked to finish in the top half of the WCC standings this season. The coaches have the Lions taking fourth in the 2005-06 season, and if the Lions under first year head coach Rodney Tention hold true to the coaches' thinking, it will be the best finish in 10 seasons. The Lions earned 40 points in the annual coaches poll and round out the top half of the eight-team conference. Both LMU and Gonzaga return the most experienced squads in the WCC. Both the Bulldogs and Lions return four starters, the most among any team in the WCC. LMU will return 12 letterwinners for coach Tention, who takes over the Lions' program after eight seasons as an assistant with Arizona.

    A WORTHY AFFECT
    Junior guard Brandon Worthy's impact has been great in his return to the Lions after missing all of the 2003-04 season on a medical redshirt with a broken wrist in his shooting hand. With Worthy, who missed nine games after knee surgery on Dec. 29 during the 2004-05 campaign, in the line-up the Lions averaged 70.7 points per game while allowing just 68.3. Without him in the line-up, they averaged 61.8 points on offense while allowing 75. This season Worthy is second on the team this season with 12.6 points per game, which is ranked 15th in the WCC. He had 20 points, eight assists, four steals, five rebounds and no turnovers against Northern Colorado. Worthy is second on the team with 52 assists and first with 26 steals, ranking 7th and 1st in the West Coast Conference, respectively. He is also fifth in free throw percentage (85.3).

    UP NEXT
    The WCC went to the Saturday-Monday format this season as the conference is part of ESPN's Big Monday package. The Lions will hit the road at Portland on Jan. 14 and then Gonzaga on Monday, Jan. 16 televised on Big Monday at 9 p.m.

    - GO LIONS -

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