Jan. 4, 2010

SAN BRUNO, Calif -- In the history of LMU men's basketball, no player has earned a triple-double. Junior Vernon Teel came as close as one can come in leading the Lions to a pair of wins on the week, earning him West Coast Conference Co-Player of the Week for the second time in the past month.

The junior from Jamaica Queens, NY, led the Lions to another perfect week, going 2-0 with wins against Seattle and Cal State Bakersfield, extending the Lions' win streak to six games. Teel averaged 20.5 points, 8.5 rebounds, 9.5 assists and 4.0 steals in the wins.

He led the Lions to their first 100-point game since 1998 with 24 points, eight rebounds, 10 assists and four steals in the 104-89 win over Seattle on Wednesday at Gersten Pavilion. Then on Sunday at Bakersfield, he went for 17 points, nine rebounds, nine assists and four steals in the 81-73 win over the Roadrunners.

He finished the week hitting 11-for-25 from the field (44 percent) and 19-for-27 (70 percent) from the charity stripe. The wins extended the Lions streak to its longest since 1995-96 and moved their road winning streak to three games, the longest since the beginning of that same season.

Teel has been the driving force behind the Lions' offensive resurgence this season. LMU is ranked 31st nationally in scoring 80.3 points per game, thanks in large part to Teel's 6.5 assists per contest. He ranks fourth in the nation and tops in the WCC with 6.5 assists per game.

He is also seventh in the WCC in scoring at 14.5, 11th in rebounds with 6.1 per game, 10th in field goal percentage (49.1), third in steals with 1.8 per game (29 total) and tied for 14th with 9 blocks (0.6 per game).

The Lions begin conference play at Pepperdine, Saturday, Jan. 9 at 7 p.m. The game can be heard on KXLU 88.9 FM.