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LAS VEGAS - Thanks to their 64-61 win over San Diego to open the 2016 West Coast Conference Basketball Championships, LMU advances to the quarterfinal round to take on top-seeded Saint Mary's. It will be just the third time the two programs have met in the WCC tournament. Game is set for Saturday night at 7 pm and it can be seen on ESPN2, WatchESPN and heard on KXLU 88.9 FM.
LMULIONS.COM GAMEDAY:
THE MATCH-UP
This will be the 140th meeting between LMU and Saint Mary's but just the third in the WCC tournament. Both previous meetings came in the semifinals, with the Gaels winning in 1997, 80-62, and the Lions winning in 2006, 66-64... The match-up will feature two of the best in the WCC with the ball, both offensively and, more for the Lions, defensively. Ball handling was a key in both meetings as the Gaels took both meetings in the regular season...
WITH THE BALL - RANKINGS IN THE WCC
| Category | Saint Mary's | LMU |
| Assists: | 17.2 (1st) | 15.9 (3rd) |
| Turnovers: | 9.7 (1st) | 11.5 (4th) |
| Turnover Margin: | +0.4 (4th) | +2.7 (1st) |
| Assist/TO Ratio: | 1.8 (1st) | 1.4 (3rd) |
| Steals: | 5.0 (5th) | 6.9 (1st) |
| Turnovers Created: | 10.0 (10th) | 14.2 (1st) |
The Lions were a minus-six in turnovers during the first meeting as the Gaels used an 18-3 edge in points off turnovers to claim a 73-48 win at Gersten Pavilion on Jan. 7. The Lions shot just 36 percent. Emmett Narr had 15. In the second match-up, the Gaels built a lead as large as 20 with 14 minutes to play and needed every minute to hang on. The Lions managed just 21 points at the break and trailed 43-23 with 14:33 to play in the game. The Lions' defense then helped them make a push, cutting the lead to just seven, 65-58, with :40 to play on a Steven Haney Jr. four-point play. They then cut it to 68-62 on a Brown lay-in with two seconds left for the final margin.
INSIDE THE LIONS
The Lions finished the regular season with a pair of overtime wins, including a 90-83 double overtime win over Pepperdine. They equalled their longest winning streak of the season with their third straight, defeating San Diego 64-61 in the opening game of the WCC Championships... The win over the Toreros was the 350th as a college head coach for Mike Dunlap...
The Lions continue to lead the league in turnover margin at +2.7, ranking first in the WCC in creating 14.2 turnovers a game while turning the ball over just 11.5 times per game, second in the WCC. They have used that to their advantage throughout the season, and leaned on it in the WCC opener. LMU creating 16 USD turnovers on eight steals, scoring 18 points off turnovers. The Lions are 8-1 on the season when they score 18 or more points off turnovers...
Junior Brandon Brown had 20 points, going 10-for-10 from the free throw line with five steals. It was his fourth 20-point game, second in the last four games. He is averaging 18.3 points, 6.8 assists, and 3.0 steals in the Lions' last four contests. Brown now has 175 assists this season, ranking in a 10th all-time. He ranks 18th in the WCC in scoring at 12.8 and is fourth in assists at 5.83 apg...
The Lions' turnover average on the season has dipped below the lowest in program history (11.77 in 1983-84), and the previous marks happen to be the last time Mike Dunlap was with the program. Four of the six lowest came between 1980-85 when Dunlap was a coach for the Lions...
LMU ranks second in the WCC hitting 72.5 percent from the free throw line. The Lions hit 83.3 percent against USD Friday, hitting 20-for-24, including 14-of-16 in the second half...
The Lions finished the 2015-16 regular season with a pair of overtime wins, improving to 3-1 in overtime on the season and 12-4 on the season when scoring more than 70 points...
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