Feb. 20, 2010

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LOS ANGELES, Calif. - Assistant Athletic Director of Athletic Medicine and head trainer for LMU men's basketball, Keith Ellison, made a discovery during the week, LMU point guard Vernon Teel was squinting at the television. After an eye doctor appointment discovered he had 20-50 vision, he was outfitted with contacts Friday morning.

Credit Ellison, a 1987 LMU alum, with an assist as the result was crystal clear.

Teel led the Lions to a dramatic 77-68 win over Portland in overtime in front of 3,844 at Gersten Pavilion Saturday night in West Coast Conference action. Teel scored eight of his 24 points in the extra frame to lift LMU to their fifth win in the last seven games and to avenge a 40-point setback against the Pilots on Jan. 21.

"We have been really starting to play well at home and the fans have been a huge factor for us down the stretch, especially in the last two big wins," said Head Coach Max Good, who has led the Lions on a 12-game turnaround from a year ago. "You never like to use revenge as motivation, but after that debacle up there, we were definitely motivated to play a good game."

LMU improves to 15-13 on the season, the most wins in a campaign since the 2003-04 season when they finished 15-14. They improve to 6-6 in WCC play to remain a game behind San Francisco for fourth and a first round bye in the upcoming Zappos.com WCC Championship in Las Vegas.

Portland falls to 17-9 and 8-4 in the WCC, a full game behind Saint Mary's for second in the WCC and a pass to the semifinals.

"The team is really maturing and finding the way to win games down the stretch. Our team defense was very solid and Vernon played very poised tonight and really was a big part of that maturity," said Good. "Portland is a very good team with a lot of senior leadership. They normally don't turn the ball over, but we did a really good job of pressuring them and forcing them into mistakes they usually don't make."

Teel, who had just four points on 1-of-6 shooting in Portland, led all scorers with his fourth double-double on the season in the win. Teel, who entered the game a 65 percent from the free throw line, went six-for-six from the charity stripe in the final two minutes and finished 10-for-12. In addition, he had 11 rebounds, adding four assists and four steals.

Three others joined Teel in double figures, including 12 points from Ashley Hamilton, and 10 apiece from Jarred DuBois and Larry Davis. T.J. Campbell and Jarred Stohl scored 17 and 16 points, respectively, to lead the Pilots, who drop a contest for just the second time in nine games.

The Lions, who did not trail for the first 37 minutes of the game, found themselves down a pair, 62-60 with 30 seconds to play after a pair of free throws from Campbell. Teel was sent to the free throw and missed his only free throws of the game and Portland's Luke Sikma grabbed the rebound.

The Pilots called timeout and on the inbound the Lions forced the Pilots into a turnover, taking possession with 11 seconds to play. Davis hit a fall-away lay-in with six second remaining to tie the game at 62-62. Campbell's three-pointer was off to the left at the buzzer sending the game to overtime.

"We tried to pressure them and keep the ball out of Stohl and Campbell, because we knew that it would be tough for the big-men to catch it cleanly in the middle of the floor," said Good.

In the extra frame, the Lions scored the first five points, including a lay-in by Teel and a three-point play by Hamilton. The Pilots then scored on back-to-back field goals from Luke Sikma and Campbell to cut the lead to one, 67-66, with 3:30 to play.

That's all the Lions' defense would allow, as they would close on a 10-2 run.

Turnovers played a big role as the Lions forced Portland to 21 turnovers, just one off their season-high for the season. It turned into a 25-17 edge in points off turnovers for the Lions, who finished with 13 steals. LMU finished shooting 49.1 percent from the field and held Portland to just 36.7 percent, their second lowest of the season.

LMU will head on the road for the final two games of the regular season, starting with San Diego on Thursday, Feb. 25 at 7:30 p.m. The game will be on ESPNU and can be heard on KXLU 88.9 FM.