Nov. 21, 2009

Box Score | Photo Gallery 1 | Photo Gallery 2

LOS ANGELES, Calif. - The road has not been kind to the LMU men's basketball team, especially when traveling cross town to take on the USC Trojans.

What kind of road woes? Members of the Lions' current roster were still at least 10 years away from being born when LMU went to USC and picked up a win.

That changed Saturday night.

Sophomore Jarred DuBois' three-pointer with 2:50 to play broke a 58-58 tie and lifted LMU to a 67-59 road win over USC at the Galen Center Saturday night. The DuBois three-pointer helped the Lions erase a 12-point second half deficit and got rid of the road woes in the process.

"Its been a little while since this program got a win on this side of town," said Head Coach Max Good. "This was a big win for us, bouncing back the way we did from Wednesday night, and doing it on the road."

DuBois scored a season-high 17 points to lead three Lions in double figures as the Lions earn their first win on the USC campus since the first game of the 1976-77 season, a span of 33 years. It is also the first overall road win since Dec. 8, 2007 against Boise State, snapping a streak of 24 games.

Freshman Edgar Garibay had a career-high 12 points with six rebounds. Sophomore Drew Viney followed his 30-point performance Wednesday with 14 points and five rebounds against the Trojans.

"We showed great poise and never let panic set in," said Good. "To get a win on the road against a Pac-10 team coached by Kevin O'Neill, is a big accomplishment. Defensively we did a really good job in the second half, and that was the key to getting us back in the game."

Due to injuries and eligibility issues, USC played just six on the night, and the Lions took advantage down the stretch.

LMU trailed 41-29 after Nikola Vucevic dunked the ball with 17:09 to play. At that point, the Lions were shooting just 35 percent from the field and had just three field goals over a span of 12 minutes.

Junior Vernon Teel, who finished with seven points, seven rebounds and seven assists, hit a lay-up after a steal to cut the lead to seven, 41-34, with 15:40 to play.

The lead would grow back to 10, 46-36, with 15:18 to play.

LMU then found their shooting touch. They went on an 11-1 run over the next four-plus minutes to tie the game on a three-pointer by Viney with 10:32 to play. Five of the points in that run came off turnovers.

After leading by as many as eight with 12:03 to play in the first half, junior Larry Davis gave the Lions their first lead since the opening stanza, hitting a running lay-in with 8:07 to play.

The Lions would not trail again.

With the score tied at 58-58, DuBois nailed his fourth three-pointer of the night for the 61-58 lead. The Lions would then go 6-for-6 from the charity stripe the final two minutes and did not allow a field goal the final 3:19 of the game for the eight-point win.

The Lions finished the second half shooting 52 percent and had 10 of their 18 points off turnovers in the final frame.

"Our defense really caused them fits and with their limited bench, we really tried to extend the floor and be aggressive," said Good. "We shot our free throws much better tonight and did what we needed to down the stretch to get the big road win."

LMU will look to make it two-in-a-row on the road when they travel to Tulsa of Conference USA on Tuesday, Nov. 24. Tip-off against the Golden Hurricanes is set for 5:00 p.m. (PT)