Box Score

Los Angeles, CA - A balanced attack and 40 minutes of defense lifted Loyola Marymount men's basketball to a 72-67 win over the University of San Francisco in West Coast Conference play at Gersten Pavilion on Monday night. Four players finished in double figures for the Lions, holding the Dons to just 37 percent shooting while forcing 16 turnovers.

The Lions earned 18 points each from freshman Tim Diederichs and sophomore Shawn Deadwiler and 11 points from freshman Orlando Johnson and junior Corey Counts. Deadwiler added a team-high seven rebounds and Counts put up a career-high eight assists in the Lions' best offensive effort since scoring 79 against Wagner on Dec. 22.

"In our five wins this season, we have kept our turnovers under 15," said Head Coach Rodney Tention. The Lions entered the game averaging more than 19 turnovers but had just 12 against the Dons. "When we take care of the ball, we can move it in our offense and get balance. We had four guys in double figures and that has been consistent in our wins."

LMU opened the game on a 9-0 run and then after trailing by one at the half rattled off an 11-0 run to take the lead for good. The Lions then stretch the lead to a game-high 14-points, 57-43, after a Johnson three-pointer with 10:53 on the clock.

USF cut the lead to 10 before Terron Sutton made it 59-47 with 9:19 remaining. The Lions then went into one of the scoring droughts that have plagued them in WCC play. They went nearly five minutes without a point, but their defense held USF to just seven points in that stretch.

"We went through a stretch again where we struggled. We went to a little more half court offense rather than pushing in transition and I think that was the reason for our slump," said Tention. "But tonight we picked up our defense in that stretch. I have always told them that a team will make a run. You have to increase your defensive intensity and we did that tonight."

A 7-0 run by USF made the score 59-54 and Johnson picked up his fifth foul with 5:37 to play in the game. That's when Counts, the walk-on guard for Los Angeles, stepped up again, scoring the Lions' next nine points. He hit two free throws, hit a 17-footer from the left wing, gathered a steal and went 1-for-2 from the free throw line in three straight possessions to push the lead back to 10, 64-54 with 3:43 to play.

USF, who just earned Head Coach Eddie Sutton his 800th career victory on Saturday, wasn't done, scoring five straight to make it 66-61 after a Manny Quezada three-pointer with 1:52 on the clock. USF had a chance to cut the lead to three thanks to three offensive rebounds by Quezada missed two free throws with :47 on the clock.

Counts then hit two more free throws to make it 68-61 as the Lions went 6-for-8 from the charity stripe in the final minute.

The Lions move into a fifth place tie with San Francisco at 2-5 in WCC play. The Lions are 5-18 overall while USF drops to 6-16. The Lions will head to the Pacific Northwest as they take on Portland on Saturday, Feb. 9 at 7:00 p.m. The game can be heard on KXLU 88.9 FM and LMULions.com.