March 4, 2015 2015 WCC Championships | We Are LMU... | LMU on Facebook | LMU on Twitter
LAS VEGAS, Nev. -- LMU and Santa Clara will meet for the ninth time in the West Coast Conference Championships when they play in the opening round of the 2015 WCC Tournament on Friday, Mar. 6 at 8 pm. The teams played each other for two of the first three title games in tournament history and last met in the 2013 quarterfinals. LMU (8-22, 4-14) holds a 5-3 edge over Santa Clara (13-16, 7-9) in the WCC tournament, while the Broncos took both games of the season series.
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FIRST ROUND
The Lions are the tenth-seed and will face the seventh-seeded Broncos on Friday, Mar. 6 in the opening round of this year's WCC Championships. The game will tip-off 30 minutes after the first game between No. 8 San Francisco and No. 9 Pacific, which starts at 6 pm. The game between LMU and Santa Clara can be seen on BYUtv and online at TheW.tv. All of LMU's games at the WCC tournament (both men and women) will air live on KXLU 88.9 FM. In addition, fans can listen to the game on Sirius 119 and XM 205. This will be the ninth time since the tournament began in 1987 LMU will face SCU in the tournament. The Lions hold a 5-3 edge in the series, winning the last meeting in the 2013 quarterfinals, 60-58. The Lions won the first four meetings against the Broncos when in the WCC tournament, the first two coming in the title games in 1988 and 1989. The ninth match-up against Santa Clara is the most among any other team. Santa Clara took both games of the regular season, surviving a buzzer-beater attempt by the Lions on Jan. 22 in Santa Clara, 65-62, and then just over a week ago on Feb. 21 in Gersten Pavilion, 70-63. The winner will face No. 2-seed BYU on Saturday in the WCC Quarterfinals.
Both Godwin Okonji and Ayodeji Egbeyemi are coming off medical redshirt seasons and wrap up their fifth and final season. The two have played in 125 and 116 games, respectively, at LMU, tied for second and tied for 7th all-time in program history. They enter the game against Santa Clara with a combined 182 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 in the MBA program while Flint is in the Elementary Education program. They both have been named to the 2014-15 West Coast Conference Men's Basketball All-Academic Team, the WCC announced on Feb. 27. It is just the fifth time in school history the Lions have multiple selections on the All-Academic Team. All told, the trio have combined to play 313 games as Lions. The trio sat down with the LMU Sports Network to talk about their final run as LMU Lions.
INSIDE THE LIONS
The Lions' record sits at 8-22 and 4-14 in the WCC after falling to rival Pepperdine in Malibu, 65-49, on Feb. 28. The Lions finished tied with Pacific in the WCC standings but earn the 10-seed after Santa Clara's win over Saint Mary's pushed the tie breaker to Pacific's favor. The Lions ended the season short-handed due to injury. In the last meeting against Santa Clara, Matt Hayes had a career-best 20 points, hitting 6-for-13 from the three-point line. It was the most three-pointers in a game since Larry Davis hit six at UC Santa Barbara (12/01/10). The Lions played without six players, five to injury against Santa Clara; Evan Payne - knee; Ayodeji Egbeyemi - quad; Joshua Spiers - back; Simon Krajcovic - knee; Casey Norris - hamstring. Egbeyemi earned the start against Pepperdine but was limited to just the first half, playing 19 minutes. Spiers also played in the game, going 15 minutes. Both are probable for Friday's game against the Broncos. The Lions' leading scorer, Payne (17.6 ppg), missed the last three games of the season but is probable for the game Friday. Norris and Krajcovic are out for the game against SCU. Junior David Humphries continues to lead the Lions down the stretch, earning his first double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds against Pepperdine.
The final home stand for senior Godwin Okonji might have been his best, going for a career-best 22 points, thanks in part to 10-for-12 shooting from the free throw line against San Francisco. He then went for 15 points with five rebounds and two steals in his home finale against Santa Clara, hitting 9-for-11 from the charity stripe. The 61.6 career free throw shooter has hit 23-of-27 from the free throw line the last three games (85.2%). He continues to lead the WCC with 86 offensive rebounds (3.0 per game) and is ranked 11th in the conference in rebounding overall at 5.6 rpg. He is 7th with 39 steals (1.4 spg). He has 161 rebounds this season, giving him 604 in his career. He is the 27th Lion to top 500 rebounds in a career, currently ranking 17th all-time at LMU. He has 103 steals in his career, ranking 24th, and his 96 career blocks is ranked fourth all-time. He will play in his 126th game on Friday, moving him to second 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 9.5 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 1.44 assists while shooting 36.1 percent from three and 78.4 from the free throw line. 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, playing 23 and 21 minutes. He then missed the games against USF and SCU. Prior to the game against Pepperdine on Saturday, he was designated to play just the first half. He played 19 minutes with three assists, two rebounds a block and a steal.
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 2.52 assist-to-turnover ratio. He re-entered the starting line-up on Jan. 8 and has 89 of his 111 assists this season in WCC play. He has just 38 turnovers on the season. In the 17 conference games, he is ranked fifth in the WCC at 4.9 assists per game. His 3.7 assists per game overall is ranked 10th. He also has 39 steals this season, ranked 8th at 1.3 steals per game.
Against the Pilots, sophomore Evan Payne scored 14 points in the final 56 seconds to help the Lions nearly erase that entire 14-point second half deficit, giving them a chance at the buzzer. 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. It was his 16th career game with 20 or more points, ninth of the season; running his career total to 954 points in 58 games (16.4 ppg in his career). He did not play the last three games due to a knee injury. He is a game time decision for the game against Santa Clara. His 17.6 ppg this season is ranked third in the WCC entering Saturday.
Junior Marin Mornar had his third double-double of the season (all in WCC play) with 23 points and equalled a career-best with 11 rebounds against Pacific. He has set career-highs five times in WCC play, the most recent 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. In the 18 WCC games, he is 19th in scoring (12.0), 6th in rebounds (6.6), 8th in offensive rebounds (2.5 orpg), 7th in defensive rebounds (4.1 drpg), 12th in field goal percentage (50.0 percent) and 3rd in blocks (1.4 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 quietly did one better against the Broncos, going for 16 points with four rebounds, four assists and three steals in the home finale. He missed a double-double by one rebound against BYU, going for 10 points, nine rebounds and four assists in 37 minutes against BYU. He finally got that double-double at Pepperdine, going for 11 points and 10 rebounds. He has taken off during conference play. In the 18 WCC games, he ranks 7th in 3-point percentage (43.1%) and 15th in three-pointers per game (1.4).
The Lions have been tough around the glass...The Lions rank third in the WCC in blocked shots. They have 102 blocks as a team and are now averaging 3.4 per game. Senior Godwin Okonji had a season-best three blocks against BYU, running his career total to 96, passing Ime Oduok (1993-96) for 4th all-time. Junior Marin Mornar now has 46 on the season, an average of 1.53 per game, ranking second in the WCC. His season total is 5th all-time in a single season at LMU. He has 92 in his career, good for a tie for 5th all-time with Ime Oduok.
