Dec. 15, 2008

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Los Angeles, CA - Playing one of its stingiest defensive stretches of the season in erasing a double-digit first half deficit, the Loyola Marymount men's basketball team could not capitalize offensively as they slipped down the stretch, falling to UC Riverside 59-52 in non-conference action at Gersten Pavilion on Monday night.

LMU forced 16 UC Riverside turnovers and held them to 7-for-27 from long range, but the Lions undermanned roster couldn't find their own offense as they shot just 34.8 percent from the field (16-for-46) and 21.4 percent from the three-point line (3-for-14). The Lions were down to just seven scholarship players as Ashley Hamilton was out again with a back injury. Four of the Lions starters played 37 or more minutes in the game.

"We are just so extended right now, playing a brutal schedule and the guys are giving everything they have," said Acting Head Coach Max Good. "But yet, at the end, this was a game that was there. It was a great effort, we just couldn't score."

The Lions had four players in double figures, led once again by freshman LaRon Armstead with 14 points and seven rebounds. Fellow freshmen Kevin Young and Jarred DuBois added 12 points each and senior Corey Counts contributed 10. However, it was a game-high 20 points from Kyle Austin that hurt the Lions. Austin went 8-for-15 in his first game as a Highlander after transferring from USC last December.

"We just didn't distribute the ball well enough," said Good. "We played very hard and never went a way, we just couldn't score when we needed to and they capitalized on second chance opportunities, including big plays down the stretch by Austin."

The Lions trailed 22-11 with just over five minutes to play in the first half. However, they used their defense to create offense and closed the half on a 11-2 run to trail just two, 24-22. The run was closed by clutch play off the bench from sophomore Brad Sweezy, who played 33 minutes with four points, five rebounds, a block and an assist, drew an intentional foul and hit both foul shots to make it a two-point game at the break.

"Brad gave us such great energy, that is why he started the second half," said Good. "It is just frustrating as we have no margin of error."

UC Riverside scored the first four points of the second half to stretch to a multiple possession lead. Armstead led another push as the Lions got to within two again, 30-28 on his jumper with 16:58 to play.

The Highlanders answered with back-to-back three-pointers to stretch the lead to 36-28. UC Riverside would stretch the lead back to double digits, including a 51-41 lead with 4:08 to play on a dunk by Aaron Scott.

LMU wasn't done yet. Four straight free throws, two by Young and two by DuBois, cut the lead to 51-45 with 2:14 to play. Austin then scored four straight points to make it 55-45. Corey Counts then outscored UCR 5-1 in the next 25 seconds to make the lead 56-50 to give LMU one last chance. Despite UCR going 1-for-4 on two straight trips to the charity stripe, the Lions couldn't get any closer. LMU outscored UCR at the charity stripe 17-8, as LMU went 17-for-22 (77.3 percent) while UCR went 8-for-14 (57.1 percent).

The Lions get no rest as they continue their five-game, 10-day tour of southern California with a trip to No. 13 UCLA on Wednesday, Dec. 17 at 8 p.m. The game can be seen on FSN Prime Ticket and heard on KXLU 88.9 FM.