Feb. 13, 2015 BUY TICKETS | This is LMU Basketball | We Are LMU... | LMU on Facebook | LMU on Twitter
PORTLAND, Ore. -- The road was not kind in the first leg of the week in the West Coast Conference as the home teams went 5-0 on Thursday. LMU (8-18, 4-10) concludes its' final road trip outside of California when they take on Portland (15-10, 6-7), winners of three straight, on Saturday, Feb. 14 at 7 pm. The game can be seen on Time Warner Cable SportsNet, ROOT Sports Rocky Mountain/Northwest and Comcast SportsNet Bay Area. The game will also be on TheW.tv out-of-region and it can be heard on KXLU 88.9 FM.
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INSIDE THE LIONS
The Lions' record sits at 8-18 and 4-10 in the WCC after splitting a two-game homestand last weekend and then dropping the first leg of their Pacific Northwest road trip. They earned a 70-61 win over San Diego, giving them back-to-back conference wins for the first time since they opened the 2013-14 conference campaign. They then dropped an 87-68 decision to BYU on Feb. 7 and an 80-51 setback at No. 2/3 Gonzaga Thursday. Marin Mornar continues to shine in WCC play, posting his his fifth career-high game in the last 10 contests against USD, going 8-for-10 from the field and 11-for-12 from the free throw line to finish with 27 points and nine rebounds. In the last four games, Mornar is averaging 18.0 points and 7.5 rebounds.
Junior Marin Mornar had his third double-double of the season (three in the last nine games) with 23 points and equalled a career-best with 11 rebounds against Pacific. He has set career-highs in five of the last 10 games thanks to his 27 points and nine rebounds against San Diego. He went for 16 and 8 rebounds at BYU (Jan. 10), 21 and 10 vs. Portland (Jan. 15), 22 and 11 at SCU (Jan. 22), 23 points and 11 rebounds at Pacific (Jan. 31), and then the game against USD Thursday. In the 14 WCC games, he is 16th in scoring (13.2), 6th in rebounds (6.9), 6th in offensive rebounds (2.7 orpg), 8th in defensive rebounds (4.1 drpg), 6th in field goal percentage (51.6%), 10th in free throw percentage (81.1%) and 3rd in blocks (1.5 bpg).
Junior transfer David Humphries had his best game as a Lion with 14 points, five assists, two rebounds, a steal on 4-for-7 three-point shooting in 44 minutes against Pacific. He followed that with an all-around performance in the win over USD, playing in 39 minutes he had nine points, six assists, no turnovers, four rebounds, two steals and a block. He missed a double-double by one rebound against BYU, going for 10 points, nine rebounds and four assists in 37 minutes against BYU. Against Gonzaga on Thursday, he led the Lions with 11 points, hitting 3-of-4 from three. His production has taken off in WCC play, going for 11.0 ppg, 4.5 rpg, and 3.8 apg in the last four games while averaging a team-high 35.5 minutes per game. In that same time span, he has shot 50% from the field (15-for-30) and hit 60% from three (12-for-20). In the 14 WCC games, he ranks 4th in 3-point percentage (51.2%) and 10th in three-pointers per game (1.6). Overall in the 26 games, he is ranked seventh in the WCC at 42.0 percent from three (29-for-40).
Senior Godwin Okonji, who has 12 offensive rebounds in the last four games, leads the WCC with 77 (3.06 per game). He led the Lions with 14 points, four rebounds, two assists and three steals against Saint Mary's, and came back with 11 points and seven rebounds (five offensive) against Pacific. He is ranked ninth in the conference in rebounding overall at 5.9 rpg and 5th with 34 steals (1.4 spg). He has 145 rebounds this season, giving him 588 in his career. He is the 27th Lion to top 500 rebounds in a career, currently ranking 17th all-time at LMU. He has 96 steals in his career, cracking the top-30 all-time at LMU, ranking 25th.
Sophomore Evan Payne has put up the points, running his career total to 931 in 57 games (16.4 ppg in his career). His 17.4 ppg this season trails only BYU's Tyler Haws, SMC's Brad Waldow and USD's all-time leading scorer Johnny Dee in the WCC. He had his 15th career game with 20 or more points, going for 23 points on 7-for-16 shooting and a perfect 8-for-8 from the free throw line at Pacific.
Ayodeji Egbeyemi has become the Lions' captain and voice on the floor, and he continues to show why. Egbeyemi has 11 double-digit scoring games this season, including his career-best 22 against Portland. He is averaging 10.0 points, 3.6 rebounds, and 1.43 assists while shooting 35.5 percent from three and 80.3 from the free throw line. He played just 11 minutes at Saint Mary's due to a quad injury to his right leg. He did not play the last three games, but returned to the starting line-up on Thursday against Gonzaga. He had seven points, three rebounds, two assists in 23 minutes.
The Lions have found some rhythm on offense, going for 71 assists in the last four games, including 20 assists on 22 field goals against SMC and 20 assists with just 10 turnovers at Pacific. The Lions had 17 assists with 12 turnovers against San Diego and then 16 and 10 against BYU. Through 12 non-conference games, the Lions averaged 10.8 apg, while in WCC play they have risen that to 14.4 apg, going for 15.3 apg the last four games. In that same time span, they have an assist-to-turnover ratio of 1.3 as compared to their season ratio of 0.9.
Leading the charge has been senior Chase Flint. He had a career-best 10 assists in the overtime win at Pacific and went for nine assists and no turnovers at USF. He is second in the WCC overall with a 2.9 assist-to-turnover ratio, which ranked 18th nationally heading into the weekend. He re-entered the starting line-up on Jan. 8 and he has posted 73 of his 96 assists this season in the last 12 games. He has just 34 turnovers on the season, good for a 2.85 assist-to-turnover average entering the game against Portland, good for second in the WCC. He has 75 assists in the 14 conference games, ranking third in the WCC at 5.4 assists per game. His 3.7 assists per game overall is ranked 8th and he is ranked 9th with 1.2 steals per game. His nine assists and no turnovers matched freshman Simon Krajcovic's performance from Nov. 29. The freshman added 12 points in just 18 minutes agasint UC Irvine. He was averaging 2.12 assists per game and 0.76 steals per game before suffering knee injury at Pacific . He will not play in the Pacific Northwest trip.
