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PORTLAND, Ore. - With 14 minutes to play, LMU saw Portland stretch their lead to 14. With eight minutes to play it sat at 13. With 2:42 to play it was at 10. It was at nine with 1:14 to play. And then things got interesting.

Sophomore Evan Payne scored 14 points in the final 56 seconds of the game to help the Lions nearly erase that entire 14-point second half deficit, giving them a chance at the buzzer. However, Portland managed to hold on for their fourth straight win, 66-63, at the Chiles Center on Saturday night.

Payne finished with 21 of his game-high 23 points in the second half, hitting all three of his three three-pointers in the final minute. He could have had a fourth, but it rolled out of the rim with 1.6 seconds left. He was fouled on the play, giving him three free throws.

He hit the first two to cut the lead to a pair, 65-63, and intentionally missed the third to give the Lions a shot at a putback. Jason Todd grabbed the rebound and was fouled with 0.6 on the clock. He hit one of two free throws and after the rebound, Payne's three at the buzzer from beyond half court was short.

"Tremendous physical effort to put us in the position to come back," said Head Coach Mike Dunlap. "We did a good job mentally of fighting back from Thursday night's game."

No other Lion finished in double figures as they finished shooting just 38.5 percent from the field. They hit 9-for-16 from three (56.3 percent) to get back into the game. Portland wasn't much better from the field, hitting 40 percent overall and 44.4 percent from three (8-for-18).

Marin Mornar had eight points, six rebounds, two assists and three blocks, while David Humphries had eight points, eight rebounds and six assists. Both played 37 minutes for the Lions (8-18, 4-11). Kevin Bailey led Portland (16-10, 7-7) with 14 points while Volodymyr Gerun and Bryce Pressley had 13 each.

Free throws played a role as both teams struggled. LMU hit 14-for-23, good for 60.9 percent, while Portland was 66.7 percent (18-for-27).

"It comes down to free throws. It hurt us," said Dunlap. "We have to get back to increasing our assists. They have been back down again."

The Lions' defense played a role in coming back as they held two of Portland's leading scorers to half their average. Kyle Wintering had no point for 36 minutes and finished with five, while Thomas Van Der Mars was held in check for the second time this season by the Lions, going for just three points, 10 below his average.

"We dealt with the known in a good way," said Dunlap. "We completely took Wintering out of the game and that is a credit to our one's and two's. We also really shutdown Van Der Mars. They had some other guys step-up, but we really took two of their top threats offensively out of the game."

The Lions return home for a full weekend when they host San Francisco on Thursday, Feb. 19 at 8 pm, and then Santa Clara on Saturday, Feb. 21 at 3 pm. The Senior Day game is also the 2015 Hall of Fame Game and the 25th Anniversary celebration for the 1989-90 Elite Eight team.