Jan. 6, 2008

Complete Release in PDF Format

Looking to end non-conference play with some momentuem, the Loyola Marymount (3-12) men's basketball team will play the final game of the non-conference season on the road starting at Cal State Bakersfield (3-12) on Monday, Jan. 7 at 7 p.m. Both teams enter with identical records as the Lions will look to snap a five-game skid as they head into West Coast Conference play starting with the defending champs at Gersten Pavilion on Jan. 12. The Roadrunners have dropped their last two at home. The game will be on KXLU 88.9 FM and on LMULions.com.

INSIDE THE LIONS
The Lions have been getting balance from their young roster as no player averages more than 30 minutes and nine different players have scored 10 or more points in a game this season. Freshmen duo Orlando Johnson and Tim Diederichs have started all 15 games this season and are averaging 24.4 and 28.2 minutes per game, respectively. No freshman in LMU history is listed to have started every game in their first year of action (however, Forrest McKenzie averaged 29.8 minutes per game as a freshman in 1981 to set the all-time freshman scoring record and games started was not recorded for that season). Johnson earned West Coast Conference Player of the Week honors on Dec. 17 with his 25-point, 8-rebound performance at UCR and then did one better with a 26-point performance against Wagner. He leads the team in scoring with 13.1 points per game. After going nearly a decade with no more than 10 three-pointers in one game as a team, the Lions have already done it twice this season. They went for 12 in the win over Mercer and then 11 at UC Riverside. The three-point total is the most since the Lions hit 12 on Jan. 29, 1999 against Saint Mary's. The Lions are second in the WCC in three-pointers with 94.

IN THE WCC
As of game through Jan. 4, freshman Orlando Johnson leads the team in scoring and is ranked 11th in the West Coast Conference at 13.1 points per game. Shawn Deadwiler ranks 20th at 9.9 ppg. In rebounding Johnson is ranked 12th in the WCC at 5.1 per game while senior Jon Ziri leads the team at 5.3, ranking 10th in the WCC. Johnson also ranks 12th in the WCC in field goal percentage at 46.3 percent while Deadwiler is ranked third in the WCC in free throw percentage at 84.4 percent. As for the long ball, junior Corey Counts and Johnson rank 8th and 10th at 41.0 and 40.7 percent, respectively. Johnson's 1.80 three-pointers per game is ranked eighth while and Deadwiler's 1.53 is ranked 13th. As for assists, three Lions are in the top-15 with Counts and Deadwiler ranking seventh at 2.87 assists per game while Ziri is 15th at 2.33 assists per game. Ziri also ranks third in the WCC in steals at 2.20, earning 33 so far this season. Junior Marko Deric is 12th in blocked shot at 0.60 per game and Johnson is ranked 7th in offensive rebounds at 2.33.

TOP FROSH
Freshman Orlando Johnson is already making a name for himself just 15 games into his career and is on pace to become one of the all-time leading freshman in LMU history. Johnson scored 26 points with six rebounds and three assists in the overtime setback to Wagner. The point total ranked third all-time in LMU history for a freshman and came on the heals of his 25-point, eight-rebound performance against UC Riverside to earn West Coast Conference Player of the Week honors on Dec. 17. Johnson has four games with 20 or more points as his 23 points against Presbyterian ranks 12th all-time and his 21 in the win over Mercer ranks 20th all-time. In addition, Johnson had 11 rebounds in the win over Boise State to rank fourth all-time by a freshman. Johnson has scored 196 points with 76 rebounds through 14 games. It is the best point total by a freshman through 15 games. Johnson is averaging 13.1 points and 5.1 rebounds per game and is on pace to set the all-time freshman record in scoring (Luther Philyaw - 1972-73 - 379 points) and rebounds (Andy Osborn - 2001-02 - 152 rebounds).

EVEN TOUGHER AT HOME
The Lions home schedule, which featured a "BCS" school for just the 29th time since 1905 when Mississippi State came to Gersten Pavilion on Dec. 19, is one of the toughest in recent years. The combined record of the Lions opponents at home this season is 64-19 (.771). The Lions are 0-5 so far at home this season, and those setbacks have come to Arkansas Little Rock who is 10-4, San Diego State who is 11-3, UC Santa Barbara who is 12-3, Mississippi State who is the worst record of the bunch at 9-5, Wagner, who is 10-4, and Sam Houston State is 12-1. The Lions are now 191-163 all-time in Gersten.

SCOUTING CSUB
Cal State Bakersfield is 3-12 on the season as they continue their first seasons of play at the Division I level in the NCAA. Their wins have come against Fresno State (65-64) and South Dakota State (73-71 ot) at home and UC Riverside (71-53) at home. Terrence Johns and Santwon Latunde lead the team in scoring at 13.9 and 10.6 points per game. Latunde has only played nine games due to injury. They have lost their last two games, falling to Pacific 67-58 at home on Saturday and UC Davis, 62-59, on Jan. 2. Bakersfield is currently an independent.

LAST TIME AGAINST CSUB
The Loyola Marymount University men's basketball team lead from wire-to-wire as they defeated Cal State Bakersfield 83-75 at Gersten Pavilion. Senior Matthew Knight had his first double-double of the season with 26 points and 16 rebounds in 36 minutes to lead the Lions. It is Knight's 20th career double-double, tying Ime Oduok for fifth all-time in LMU history. Senior Brandon Worthy added 19 points, five rebounds and four assists while junior Jon Ziri had his best game of the season with 12 points and nine rebounds.The Lions jumped out to a 9-1 lead and never looked back. They led by as many as 16 in the second half as Cal State Bakersfield, who falls to 0-3, cut the lead to seven with a minute remaining but could get no closer. LMU finished shooting 52 percent for the game, their best of the season, while holding the Roadrunners to just 41 percent. LMU held a 46-35 rebounding edge over CSUB who went just 14-for-33 from the free throw line in a game that featured 53 fouls. The Lions went 24-for-38. Junior Damian Martin had eight points and six rebounds while senior John Montgomery added seven points in the win.

LMU'S JZ
The Lions lone senior in 2007-08 is Jon Ziri, a fifth-year player from Tempe, Ariz. Ziri leads the team with 98 games played, 50 starts and in diplomas. He earned his Business Administration degree in May and will complete his double major this year in Sociology. Possibly the most athletic player on the squad, the 6-2 Ziri enters his final season with a 4.6 points per game average. Labeled as a high-energy performer, Ziri's defense has been solid in his career with 118 total steals, 33 this season and a career-best 47 as a sophomore in 2005-06. Ziri is currently fourth on the team in scoring this season at 7.3 and leads the team in rebounds (5.3 rpg), and steals (2.20 spg). He set career-highs with 19 points against New Mexico, 12 rebounds against UC Santa Barbara, and five steals against Mississippi State.

WHERE IT COUNTS
Corey Counts was named to the 2007 West Coast Conference Winter All-Academic team for his performance both in the classroom and on the hardwood for the LMU basketball team. Counts has gone from try-out walk-on to a valuable member to the Lions' squad. Counts has a 3.08 GPA and is an Economics major. He had the best game of his career as a Lion in the win over Presbyterian, scoring 10 points with six assists off the bench, hitting 3-for-4 from the field, including 2-for-3 from the three-point line and charity stripe. He earned his first start against Boise State and came through with nine points and five assists, hitting the game winner - a bank three-pointer from 30-feet with 17 seconds left on the game clock and just two seconds on the shot clock. He is averaging 4.9 points with 43 assists while shooting 16-for-39 (41 percent) from the three-point line this season. He leads the teams in assists and averages 21.2 minutes per contest.