Feb. 5, 2006
Loyola Marymount (9-13/6-2) at San Diego (15-6, 5-3)
Saturday, Feb. 4 - 7:30 p.m. PT
Jenny Craig Pavilion (5,100) - San Diego, CA
Ticket Information
Game Notes in PDF Format
Live Audio/Video | GameTracker
Television: San Diego Channel 4
Loyola Marymount will travel to play the University of San Diego to complete a three-game road
swing on Monday, Feb. 6. The game will be a second consecutive contest in which the Lions will
face a team trailing them by a game for second place in the West Coast Conference standings.
The Lions are coming off a 74-63 road win at USF on Saturday to improve to 9-13 overall and 6-
2 in the WCC. San Diego has won four straight and defeated Pepperdine at home, 84-71, Saturday
to run their record to 15-6 overall and 5-3 in conference. The game will be at 7 p.m. and
televised on San Diego Channel 4. The game can also be heard on Lions' All-Access through
KXLU 88.9 FM and LMULions.com.
FIRST-YEAR SUCCESS
First-year Head Coach Rodney Tention has begun to turn some heads. He has led the Lions
to a 6-2 start in conference, the second best start in program history under a first-year coach.
Only Paul Westhead did better in his first season, leading LMU to eight straight wins to start WCC
play as they went on to finish 10-4 and in second place in his first season. Tention returned to his
alma mater for the first time as head coach of the Lions and led the Lions to a 74-63 win. Prior to
the game, he received a round of applause from the 4,376 in attendance as he was introduced.
Tention played three seasons for the Dons (1985-88). It is only fitting that LMU earns a regular
season series sweep over the Dons for the second straight season under Tention. The last time
the Lions swept the Dons in back-to-back seasons was in 1990 and 1991. In the 128 meetings
between the two teams, the Lions have had won four straight over USF just three times.
Tention began his first season as a Division-I head coach with a win over BYU on the road. He
became the first Lion coach in 32 years to win his first game at the helm of the Lions against a
Division-I opponent. The last to do it was Dave Benaderet against UC Irvine on Nov. 30, 1973.
There is more. Tention added to it by becoming just the third coach in LMU history to win his first
three conference games. Ed Goorjian did it in his first season, defeating Santa Clara, San Diego
and Portland in the 1980-81 season. Westhead was the last to do it when he took over 20 years
ago in the 1985-86 season.
THE FAST START
The win over San Francisco gives the Lions six wins in conference play, equalling the most
since 1998. The pair of weekend sweeps marks the first time since the 1995-96 season LMU has
won a series against travel partners. The Lions defeated San Francisco and San Diego in the first
weekend of play and then swept Saint Mary's and Santa Clara in their second home series to
match the '95-96 team when they defeated Portland and Gonzaga in one weekend and then
swept Pepperdine when the schools played each other in back-to-back contests.
With the wins over Santa Clara and Saint Mary's, the Lions have put their home winning streak to five games overall. The first of the streak
came in the final non-conference game at home against Northern Colorado, 76-63, on Dec. 17. They have since opened conference play 4-0 at home. The five-game home winning streak is the longest since the Lions won 10 straight between the 1989-90 and the 1990-91 seasons.
The 4-0 start at home in conference play is also the first since the 1989-90 season, doing it for just the sixth time in the Lions'
52 years associated with the West Coast Conference. Teams that won their first four conference games at home were in 1961-62, 72-73, 87-88, 88-89, and 89-90. It is also the Lions' first four-game home winning streak in conference play at any point of the season since 1995-96 when they finished
8-6 and tied for second.
REVERSE OF FORTUNE
Conference play has been a reverse in fortune in many ways for the Lions. After going 0-5 in games that came down to the buzzer and/or overtime in non-conference (South Alabama, USC,
Hawaii, Western Michigan, South Florida), the Lions have gone 2-0 in the same situation during conference games (San Diego, USF). The Lions are second in the WCC after seven games in
scoring offense with 77.5 points per game, a reverse of the 69.5 points they averaged in nonconference.
MATCH-UP
LMU and San Diego will match-up for the 71st time in the series' history. The Lions hold a slim 36-
34 edge in the series, winning the first meeting of the season 86-84. The Lions earned their first
win at the newly constructed Jenny Craig Pavilion in the 2003 season and are 15-16 all-time when
playing in San Diego. It will be a meeting between the top two assist teams in the league. USD is
first in all games averaging 17.3 assists per game and second in WCC contests at 15.1. The Lions,
are the flip side, second overall at 16.0 and first in the WCC at 17.7. The Toreros are on a role,
winning their last four. They are 5-3 in conference with all three losses coming by a combined four
points, losing at the buzzer to LMU, Pepperdine and fifth-ranked Gonzaga. USD defeated Pepperdine
84-71 on Saturday as senior Nick Lewis scored 30 points as he leads the team in scoring at 18.9
points per game. The Toreros shot 50 percent from the field and hit 8-for-19 from long range,
including 4-for-6 for the center Lewis. They also went 26-for-38 from the foul line as Pepperdine
was called for 25 fouls.
LAST TIME VS. USD
In his fourth and final season, Loyola Marymount senior Chris Ayer has been having a breakout
season. He added to it when he hit a seven foot jumper at the buzzer to help the Lions erase a 17-
point deficit and earn an 86-84 victory over San Diego to open West Coast Conference play on
Jan. 9. With the game tied at 84-84 with 14 seconds remaining, the Lions had the final possession. After the ball was kicked out of bounds by USD with six seconds left, the Lions called a single screen on senior Wes Wardrop, who then had the option to shoot or pass on the double.
The Toreros doubled on Wardrop, leaving Ayer open near the free throw line. The senior from Tucson, Ariz., delivered as the Lions start 1-0 in WCC play. "We were due one," said Head Coach
Rodney Tention, whose Lions had dropped five games at the buzzer this season. "After losing
five, we had to get one. Guys really stepped up and made their shots. I hope this shows them
that when we play as a team we can compete with anyone." Ayer finished with 17 points as the
Lions wrapped up his best shooting percentage of the year at 56.1 percent. Junior Matthew
Knight led the Lions with 22 points and nine rebounds, hitting 10-for-13 from the field. Senior
Wes Wardrop added 19 points and six assists. USD senior Nick Lewis led all scorers with 28 points, hitting 10-for-13 from the field and 6-for-8 from the three-point line. USD, the WCC's
highest scoring offense, finished hitting 50 percent. LMU looked to be left for dead as USD took
its largest lead of 17 when Brandon Johnson hit a jumper with 9:36 remaining. However, they
staged a comeback, going on an 8-0 run to cut the lead to nine, 72-63, with 8:40 remaining on
a jumper by Wardrop. The teams traded baskets before Worthy got it to eight, 67-75 with 6:02
on the clock. Lewis answered again and Ross DeRogatis chipped in a three-point play to push
the lead back to 13, 80-67 with 4:37 on the clock. The Lions erupted on an 18-0 run over the
next four minutes to take their first lead of the second half. Knight trimmed the lead to nine, 80-
71, at 3:35. LMU forced a turnover and Worthy's backdoor lay-in cut the lead to 80-73 with 3:15
on the clock. Ayer's dunk then cut it to five, 80-75, with 2:40 on the clock. After hitting just two
three pointers in the first 38 minutes, LMU hit back-to-back threes after back-to-back steals. Ziri
hit the first with 1:59 on the clock to make it 80-78 and then Wardrop gave LMU the lead, 81-80,
with a three with 1:40 remaining for the finish. Three free throws from Wardrop put the lead at
84-80 with 46 seconds remaining. San Diego was not done. Ayer fouled Johnson with 35
seconds left and he hit both to make the score 84-82. LMU then committed a turnover with 20
seconds remaining to give USD the ball back. Ziri fouled Corey Belser, who hit both to set-up the
final 16 seconds.
RECENT NOTES
The double-doubles by both Matthew Knight (10 points & 10 rebounds) and Chris Ayer (14
& 11) in the win over Santa Clara was the third time this season the front court duo combined for
double digits in points and rebounds. They did it in the first game of the season against BYU and
then again in the win over USF. This is the first time the Lions had teammates do it in the same
game since Haywood Eaddy (21 pts, 10 assists) and Elton Mashack (17 pts, 11 reb) did it
against San Francisco on Jan. 15, 1999. The last time a Lions' squad had three games with
teammates with double-doubles was in 1991-92 when five different players teamed for doubledoubles
that season.
Brandon Worthy scored 32 points in the win over Saint Mary's on Jan. 23. He is the third
Lion this season to score 30 or more points. Junior Matthew Knight scored 32 against Long
Beach State and Wes Wardrop had 31 against Gonzaga. It is the first time since that 1989-90
season the Lions have had three different players go for 30 or more in a single game. As for
Worthy, he went 9-for-15 from the field and 14-for-18 from the free throw line. He is been the
hot hand of late, scoring 20 agaisnt Pepperdine and then 18 against San Francisco Saturday. He
leads the team in all free throw categories this season, going 113-for-134, a 84.3 percent clip.
He went 10-for-12 in the win over USF and in his freshman season he made 149 free throws to
rank 10th all-time for a single season at LMU. On the season he is averaging 13.5 points per
game with 89 assists and 35 steals. He is ranked 13th in the WCC in scoring, fifth in free throw
percentage, sixth in assists and fifth in steals.
Thanks to a 26-for-51 outing against USF, the Lions have now shot better than 50 percent
from the field in three games on the year, all coming in conference play and all ending in wins.
Against Portland, LMU finished shooting 8-for-11 from the three-point line, good for 72.7 percent,
the second best shooting performance from long distance in LMU history. The school
record is 73.9 percent when LMU hit 17-for-23 against St. Joseph's on Dec. 29, 1990. The 86
points, 56.1 percent shooting effort from the field and 26 assists against San Diego on Jan. 7
was the Lions' best of the season. The 51 rebounds and 24 forced turnovers against USF on Jan.
9 were also season highs. In fact, the 26 assists are the most by the Lions in exactly 12 years as
they had 27 on Jan. 7, 1994 in a win over Buffalo. The 51 rebounds are the most since 54
against UNLV on Jan. 3, 2001.
The 16-point win over Portland matched the largest WCC road win for LMU in 15 years. On
Feb. 9, 1991, LMU beat Portland by 32 (128-96). Since then, the Lions' largest WCC road victory
was a 16-point win (89-73) at San Diego on Jan. 21, 1999. Last night's 16-point victory matched
the biggest road win.
Jon Ziri has become a jack of many trades for the Lions as he scored six points with eight
rebounds, two assists a block and two steals. The 6'2" redshirt sophomore from Tempe, Ariz., is
making the most of his 19 starts this season. He leads the Lions in conference play with 17
steals, added 23 assists and sitting second on the team in rebounds at 5.3 per game.
The Lions' roster features four seniors who have combined to play in 399 games together. For
Chris Ayer (106) the game against San Francisco on Jan. 9 was his 100th game as a Lion. He
was just the 18th player in LMU history to hit the century mark and the third in the last three
years. Teammate and fellow senior Wes Wardrop (102) became the 19th player to reach a 100
games played in the game against Saint Mary's on Jan. 23. Dustin Brown will make it No. 20 as
he will play in his 100th career game against San Diego. John Haywood, who only played 15
games as a sophomore due to injury, has played in 92 career games. No team in LMU history has
featured three players who have played in more than 100 games together. The last to feature a
pair of 100-game players was the 1992 team with Terrell Lowery and John O'Connell. Lowery
played in a school record 119 while O'Connell played in 110 to rank 7th all-time.
- GO LIONS -
