Nov. 18, 2009

Box Score | Photo Gallery

LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- The LMU men's basketball came out in their home opener on fire, hitting nearly 80 percent of their shots in the first 15 minutes, building a 14-point lead.

However, the fire didn't last and UC Irvine (2-1) erased the 14-point first half deficit, Michael Hunter hit a pair of three-pointers in the final minute, and the the Anteaters earned an 82-76 win over the Lions (1-3) in non-conference play at Gersten Pavilion Wednesday night.

"We lacked the killer instinct," said Head Coach Max Good. "We came out with great energy and then just stopped. We lacked the toughness to close this out."

The Lions wasted a monster effort by junior Drew Viney, who scored 30 points on 9-for-19 shooting. It was the second straight game he earned his career high in scoring, hitting 3-for-6 from the three-point line and 9-for-11 from the charity stripe.

Jarred DuBois added 12 points and Vernon Teel had 11 points, six rebounds and six assists. Hunter finished with 17 points while Eric Wise also added 17 to lead four players for UDI in double figures.

The Lions could not miss early, building a 38-24 lead with five minutes to play. The LMU turnovers helped UC Irvine to a 18-2 run to work back into the game. They outscored the Lions 9-2 to close the first half to cut the lead to seven at the break, 40-33, and then took their first lead of the game on a Hunter jumper with 17:54 to play, 42-40.

From that point, the game would feature 10 ties and 11 lead changes the remaining 17 minutes. With the game tied at 71-71, Larry Davis went to the free throw line and hit both to make it 73-71 in favor of the Lions. Both teams traded a free throw to make it 74-72, LMU.

With 2:36 to play, Mike WIlder took a pass from Hunter and tied the game with a lay-up. After both teams failed to convert, it set-up Hunter to hit his first three-pointer with 1:02 to play. The shot made it 77-74, UC Irvine, and they did not trail again.

Viney scored on a jumper with 54 seconds to play, making it 77-76. On the next possession, Hunter hit a three in the final seconds of the shot clock to make it 80-76 with 27 seconds to play, putting the game out of reach for the Lions.

LMU will travel to USC to take on the Trojans on Saturday, Nov. 21 at 5 p.m. The game can be heard on KXLU 88.9 FM.