Nov. 28, 2009

Box Score
LMU vs. UCSB Audio Highlights from LMU Podcast Center

LOS ANGELES, Calif. - LMU entered their game against UC Santa Barbara as one of the better three-point shooting teams in the West Coast Conference at 48 percent. Unfortunately for LMU, they choose the wrong time to divert from that early season trend.

It was UC Santa Barbara who felt right at home in their first road trip of the season, using their best shooting outing of the season to earn an 89-84 win over the Lions at Gersten Pavilion in front of 1,843 Saturday night.

The Gauchos hit 56 percent from the field (28-for-50) to stay perfect on the season at 4-0. The Lions shot 46 percent (29-for-63), but hit just 25 percent (5-for-20) from long distance. They fall to 2-5 on the year.

"Defensively we just were not good tonight," said Head Coach Max Good. "You are not going to win anything when you let a team shoot like that. When we did create turnovers, we scored from it. But we just didn't do it enough, and in the second half we didn't do it at all."

LMU's Drew Viney led all scorers with 25 points. He finished 7-for-17 from the field and 10-for-11 from the charity stripe. Four Lions finished in double figures, as Kevin Young added 20, Vernon Teel 14, and Jarred DuBois 12.

James Powell led five Gauchos in double figures and was the early ignition to the hot shooting. He had 12 of his 21 points at the break, hitting 4-for-5 from the three-point line. He finished 7-for-10 from the field, 5-for-7 from long range. Orlando Johnson and James Nunnally each had 16 points, while Sam Phippen and Jaime Serna had 14 and 12, respectively.

LMU erased a seven-point deficit to tie the game at 56-56 on a transition lay-up by Young with 11:26 to play.

However, UCSB opened the half shooting over 80 percent and would build a double-digit lead from there, going on a 16-6 run to build at 72-62 lead after a pair of free throws from Johnson. UCSB shot 65 percent in the second half and out-rebounded the Lions 39-26. The teams combined for 107 points in the second half.

"They got hot from the outside early and we just did not play defense on the perimeter," said Good. "Once they got rolling, they couldn't miss."

The Lions would not go away. Viney would hit a three-pointer with 2:25 to play to cut the lead to 80-75. DuBois would then cut it to three, 85-82, with 48 seconds to play on a three-pointer of his own.

The Lions had two chances in the paint in the final 30 seconds to cut the lead to one, but couldn't convert. UCSB then went 4-for-4 from the charity stripe in the final 20 seconds to seal it.

LMU will finish a brief two-game homestand when they face Academy of Art University on Wednesday, Dec. 2 at 7:05 p.m. The game can be heard on KXLU 88.9 FM and LMULions.com.