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HONOLULU - The opening pressure by the 11th-ranked Wichita State set the tone for the rest of LMU's opening game of the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic. The Shockers took advantage of the Lions' turnover issues to claim an 80-53 win to advance to the semifinals on Tuesday.

Wichita State (9-1) finished with 10 steals and forced the Lions into 16 turnovers and turned that into a 29-9 edge in points off turnovers. In addition, Wichita State grabbed 17 of their 32 rebounds on the offensive glass to hold a 22-8 edge in second chance points.

"Took away some of our scoring options early and their pressure got to us in the opening minutes," said Head Coach Mike Dunlap. "Bottom line it came down to two things that have been haunting us. Turnovers. We have got to solve this over time. It comes down to decision making. And the second is rebounding. Our bigs can and will be better."

LMU finished with just 19 rebounds to the Shockers 32. The extra opportunities saw Wichita State attempt 56 field goals to LMU's 38. The Lions hit 18 (47.4 percent) while Wichita State made 26 (46.4 percent). The Lions went 0-for-5 from three, the fourth time in program history they have finished without a three-pointer.

Evan Payne led the Lions once again with 15 points on just 3-for-6 shooting, hitting 9-for-10 from the free throw line. Ayodeji Egbeyemi scored 13 points and was the high rebounder with four. Darius Carter and Tekele Cotton had 12 each to lead the Shockers.

"Some bright spots for us tonight was Deji. It was good to see him get double digits and his leadership was solid. He did a lot of things that go unnoticed," said Dunlap. "Marin also gave us big minutes tonight."

Mornar finished with eight points, two rebounds and two blocks in 15 minutes.

The Lions will play either Nebraska or host Hawaii on Tuesday, Dec. 23 at 8:30 pm PT/6:30 pm HT.