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LOS ANGELES - After struggling the last seven games with turnovers, the LMU men's basketball team had relied on their rebounding, holding a plus-10 edge in their last four games. However, in the WCC Game of the Week it was a full-180 as Saint Mary's used 11 three-pointers and a plus-9 edge on the glass to claim a 72-63 win on Saturday afternoon.

The Lions turned the ball over a season-low six times and held the Gaels to just 41.1 percent shooting. The Gaels (11-3, 4-0), who saw their 17-point lead dwindle to just six with less than four minutes to play, used a 37-28 edge on the glass and an 11-for-30 effort from long distance to hold the Lions (4-11, 0-3) at bay.

"Our ability to balance the floor in defensive transition hurt us," said Head Coach Mike Dunlap. "We gave up too many opportunities on the offensive glass because we just weren't organized." The Gaels held a 21-6 edge in second chance points.

Evan Payne had his 15th career 20-point game, scoring 24 points for the Lions. David Humphries had a career-high 10 points, hitting both his three-point attempts. The Lions finished shooting 43.6 percent on the game, knocking down 51.7 percent in the second half.

"A positive today was our ability to keep pushing forward, keep going at our opponent," said Dunlap. "We showed our ability to come together as one and cutting the lead to six. The fact that we held them to 41 percent shooting shows we had good effort."

Aaron Bright led the Gaels with 24 points, hitting 6-for-14 from three while Kerry Carter added 17, hitting 4-for-11 from long range. Brad Waldow had a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds, more than eight points below his average.

"Godwin Okonji's defensive effort tonight was solid, he was very sound in his match-up with Waldow," said Dunlap. "He really contained him and allowed us to not worry about that piece on defense."

Three of the Gaels' first four field goals were from three as they jumped out to an 11-2 lead. The Lions managed to claw back and cut the lead to one, 20-19, on a jumper from Payne with 5:24 to play in the half.

The Gaels would lead 29-24 at the break and stretched the lead to 52-35 with 11:24 to play. Down 57-41, the Lions went on a 10-2 run, capped by an Okonji tip-in with 4:55 to play, making it 59-51. A pair of free throws by Payne cut the lead to 61-55 with 3:15 to play.

However, the Gaels scored the next five points and LMU would get no closer.

The Lions head out on the road to face San Diego on Thursday, Jan. 8 at 8 pm. The game can be seen on Time Warner Cable SportsNet and heard on KXLU 88.9 FM.