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LAS VEGAS - LMU men's basketball turned to its defense to open the 2016 West Coast Conference Men's Basketball Championships on Friday, using a full court press for most the game to claim a 64-61 victory over San Diego at the Orleans Arena.

"Our defense tonight was fantastic, and it was 94-feet. I was very proud of our defensive effort," said Head Coach Mike Dunlap. "It was a great effort for us defensively and offensively we were able to take advantage of the free-throw line."

The Lions (14-16) had eight steals and scored 18 points off of the Toreros' 16 total turnovers. They also went 20-for-24 from the free-throw line, including 14-for-16 in the second half.

Brandon Brown led the charge both offensively and defensively for the Lions, finishing with 20 points, including a perfect 10-for-10 from the free-throw line, and five steals. Steven Haney added 12 points, including three three-pointers, and Shamar Johnson had eight.

Holding a four-point lead at the half, LMU opened things up in the second frame as a Haney three and Marin Mornar layup made it 35-26 in the Lions' favor early. They would push the spread to as many as 12, 42-30, with 12:57 to play.

San Diego (9-21) attempted to chip away multiple times, but LMU had an answer each time the Toreros pulled within a pair of possessions. A Olin Carter III three followed by a Duda Sanadze layup with 50 ticks remaining cut the spread to 60-58.

But Brown knocked down a pair of free throws on the ensuing possession and the Lions followed with a big defensive stop as David Humphries corralled the rebound on a missed Sanadze three with seven seconds remaining. Humphries sank two free-throw attempts to push the lead back to six before a San Diego three at the buzzer accounted for the final three-point spread.

"San Diego is a very well coached team and their players know their roles very well," said Dunlap. "In order to get them out of their tempo we tried get them out of their patterns with the press. We were very effective in doing that."

The first half featured six ties and four lead changes as the teams went back and forth throughout. LMU held the largest lead of the half, 16-11, on back-to-back buckets by Brown.

San Diego took a late 26-25 lead on a Marcus Harris layup with 1:53 remaining, but LMU responded by scoring the final five points of the half on two Brown free throws and a Haney three to hold a 30-26 advantage heading into the break.

The Lions advance to the WCC Championship quarterfinals where they will face top-seed Saint Mary's Saturday at 7 p.m. on ESPN2 and WatchESPN.

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