Feb. 14, 2009

Box Score

Los Angeles, CA - In a classic West Coast Conference battle that saw 15 lead changes and nine ties, Loyola Marymount could not overcome foul trouble to their post players and Santa Clara hit their free throws down the stretch to help the Broncos pull out a 69-64 thriller at Gersten Pavilion Saturday night.

Freshman Jarred DuBois did all he could with 28 points, hitting 10-for-20 from the field and 6-for-10 from the three-point line. With already the freshman scoring record in his pocket with 39 points, the point total against Santa Clara was the third best by a freshman in LMU history.

However, it was Santa Clara's all-conference center John Bryant who did the most damage with 25 points and 16 rebounds. LMU forward's Marko Deric and Brad Sweezy both had three fouls in the first half and Kevin Young had a pair. Deric fouled out with over nine minutes to play while Young fouled out in the final minutes. Sweezy finished with six points and seven rebounds.

"Bryant gave us an awful lot of trouble tonight," said Head Coach Max Good. "He is such a good player and got us in foul trouble. We just don't have enough size to match him. Brad, who is undersized, just did everything he could, but Bryant was tough." All three of the Lions' players who are out for the season with injury are post players.

LMU's Vernon Teel added 18 points, eight assists, seven rebounds and four steals. Santa Clara freshman Kevin Foster added 26 points to lead the Broncos.

LMU hit 45.8 percent from the field in the first half compared to Santa Clara's 40 percent to trail by just one, 30-29, at the break. LMU, however, hit just 33 percent to Santa Clara's 47 percent in the second half. For the game SCU was 43.2 percent (19-for-44) and LMU 38.6 (22-for-57).

The Lions, who trailed by six, 47-41, with 10:59 to play, went on a 11-1 run over the next 3:30 to take a 52-48 lead on a pair of free throws by Teel. Santa Clara managed to take the lead, 56-54, on a Foster three-pointer with 5:39 to play. It would be the final field goal of the game for Santa Clara as they would end up winning it at the charity stripe.

DuBois would answer Foster's three-pointer with one of his own to make it 57-56 Lions with 5:17 to play. It would be the Lions' last lead.

Santa Clara would hit three free throws for the 15th and final lead change of the game to take a 59-57 lead. Teel's jumper with 2:42 to play tied it at 59-59. The Broncos would then build the lead up to as many as six and put the game away in the final minutes. Santa Clara went 15-for-19 from the free throw line in the final 3:56 of the game.

SCU finished the game 24-for-35 from the charity stripe compared to just 12-for-16 for LMU. The Lions were called for a season high 25 fouls to just 16 for the Broncos.

"Down the stretch we had a chance to pull it out, but we made some bad decisions down the stretch," said Good. "These guys are trying so hard to win us a game, and sometimes are trying to hard to do it themselves. It is not being selfish, just the competitive fire to get us over the hump. We are getting better, it is just really frustrating as we are close."

Santa Clara finished the game with 17 turnovers as the Lions collected nine steals. LMU had only 12 turnovers and went over double digit assists for the second straight game with 13.

The Lions head to the Pacific Northwest as they take on Gonzaga on Thursday, Feb. 19 at 6:00 p.m. The game will be on FSN West and on KXLU 88.9 FM.