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LOS ANGELES - LMU men's basketball held Santa Clara to just 36.8 percent shooting, helping them to a 66-56 win in West Coast Conference action on Saturday afternoon at Gersten Pavilion. The Lions (8-7, 1-3) outscored the short-handed Broncos (8-9, 2-2) 39-2 off the bench and 36-18 in points in the paint.

The Lions used a balanced attack as Stefan Jovanovic had 14 points and Shamar Johnson added 12 points with eight rebounds. Kelvin Amayo added nine points and six rebounds while Brandon Brown had nine points and five assists. Jeffery McClendon was part of the Lions' solid defense, adding seven points, five rebounds and two steals.

Santa Clara played seven, with the seventh playing just one minute. Three players went the full 40 minutes, including Nate Kratch with 19 points and nine rebounds. KJ Feagin had 21 points and five assists before fouling out the final minute.

A Feagin three-pointer cut the Lions lead to one, 54-53 with 4:44 to play. From there, the Lions depth tool advantage. They went on a 7-0 run capped by Brown's two free throws to make it 61-53 with 48 seconds to play. Feagin hit another three to make it 61-56 just 14 seconds later.

LMU would then force a pair of steals and three missed three-pointers the rest of the way, hitting five-of-six from the charity stripe to put the game away.

GAMEDAY STORYLINES

• Santa Clara entered the game having hit 14 three-pointers in a 70-42 win over Portland Thursday. The Lions held them to just 26.7 percent, allowing them to hit just 8-for-30. LMU's perimeter defense held leading scorer Jared Brownridge to just 1-for-11 from the field. He finished with five points, 12 under his average.

• LMU finished hitting 45.6 percent from the field, going 4-for-10 from three. They outscored the Broncos 16-7 off turnovers.

FROM COACH DUNLAP

"Our perimeter defense won the game today," said Head Coach Mike Dunlap. "We played fantastic defense and our perimeter players did a fantastic job on their guards. That's an easy statement to make. The game was won on the perimeter."

"Paint touches is our strength and we used that in the second half. Our depth really helped us tonight."

UP NEXT

The Lions head to the Pacific Northwest next week, starting with Gonzaga on Thursday, Jan. 12 at 6 pm. They will then face Portland on Saturday, Jan. 14 at 7 pm.

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