Feb. 20, 2015 BUY TICKETS | This is LMU Basketball | We Are LMU... | LMU on Facebook | LMU on Twitter
LOS ANGELES -- LMU will host the final home game of the 2014-15 season when they take on Santa Clara (11-16, 5-10) on Saturday, Feb. 21 at 3 pm. It is Senior Day and the Lions will honor its graduating seniors, as well a full day of celebrations honoring accomplishments of LMU's student-athletes. The game can be seen on TheW.tv and heard on KXLU 88.9 FM.
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GAMEDAY
It will be a day of celebrating student-athletes and those who support them, both past and present on Saturday. The Lions will celebrate Senior Day by honoring seniors Ayodeji Egbeyemi, Chase Flint and Godwin Okonji, along with senior manager Quan Ngo. It is the 2015 Hall of Fame Game, as the Lions will honor the 2015 Induction class to the Lions' Hall of Fame. The class - which includes Jason D'Amore (golf - four-time first-team All-WCC, just sixth Lion ever to do so in any sport), Laura Mickelson (cross country/track - 2006 WCC Champion), Dale Marini (benefactor - men's basketball official scorer), Billy Traber (baseball - All-American), Scott Walter (baseball - All-American), and the 1996 LMU Women's Volleyball Team (WCC Champions; NCAA Sweet 16) - will be inducted earlier in the day at the Hall of Fame Brunch. Also at halftime as part of the Hall of Fame festivities, LMU will honor the 25th anniversary of the 1989-90 men's basketball team and their run to the NCAA Elite Eight. Singing the national anthem will be LMU alum Dean Smith (`84/'87). Smith was the regular national anthem singer during the record-setting season. Recent alums can celebrate the day with a special return to the ROAR ticket. Special pricing is available for LMU alums. The Hall of Fame festivities will conclude with the LMU baseball game at Page Stadium against St. Joseph's. Traber and Walter, the All-Conference battery for LMU's three-straight WCC titles from 1998-00, will throw out the first pitch. The Lions will play a double-header against St. Joseph's with game one set for 2 pm, and the Hall of Fame ceremony taking place during game two at 6 pm. For more information or to buy tickets, visit LMULions.com/Tickets.
THE SENIORS
Both Godwin Okonji and Ayodeji Egbeyemi are coming off medical redshirt seasons and are in their fifth season in 2014-15. The two have played in 123 and 115 games, respectively, at LMU, ranking third and tied for 8th all-time in program history. They enter the game against Santa Clara with a combined 179 starts among them. Joining them is senior Chase Flint. He, along with Egbeyemi, have already earned their Bachelor degrees and both are in master programs at LMU. Egbeyemi is the MBA program while Flint is in the Elementary Education program. All told, the trio have combined to play 308 games as Lions. Add to that senior manager Quan Ngo, who has been with the program all four years. He will be working his 119th game on Saturday, having traveled with the Lions every game since his sophomore season. He is a Business Management major who hopes to continue to work in basketball.
Senior Godwin Okonji opened his final home stand with a career-best 22 points, going 6-for-13 from the field and 10-for-12 from the free throw line. He added five rebounds and a steal and continues to lead the WCC with 80 offensive rebounds (3.0 per game). He is ranked 9th in the conference in rebounding overall at 5.6 rpg and 6th with 36 steals (1.3 spg). He has 152 rebounds this season, giving him 595 in his career. He is the 27th Lion to top 500 rebounds in a career, currently ranking 17th all-time at LMU. He has 100 steals in his career, cracking the top-30 all-time at LMU, ranking 25th. He also has 95 career blocks, ranking fourth all-time. He will play in his 124th game on Saturday, third all-time at LMU.
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 9.9 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 1.38 assists while shooting 39.4 percent from three and 79.5 from the free throw line. In the 12 WCC games he has played in, his 52.2 percentage from the three-point line (12-for-23) is ranked second. He has played in 115 games, ranked tied for 8th all-time. He played just 11 minutes at Saint Mary's due to a quad injury to his right leg. He missed three games but returned to the starting line-up against Gonzaga and Portland. He had seven points in each game last week, playing 23 and 21 minutes. He then missed the game against USF. He remains a game-time decision this week.
Senior Chase Flint 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 2.54 assist-to-turnover ratio. He re-entered the starting line-up on Jan. 8 and has 77 of his 99 assists this season in WCC play. He has just 37 turnovers on the season. In the 15 conference games, he is ranked fifth in the WCC at 5.9 assists per game. His 3.5 assists per game overall is ranked 10th. He also has 33 steals this season, ranked 12th at 1.2 steals per game.
