Box Score March 4, 2017

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LAS VEGAS, Nev. - Like they have all season, the LMU men's basketball team pushed back to the very end, once again giving BYU everything they could handle until the final buzzer. However, another late-game push wasn't enough as the Lions see their season end, 89-81, on Saturday afternoon in the first quarterfinal of the 2017 West Coast Conference Championships at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas.

The Lions cut a 14-point late second half deficit to just a pair and had a chance at the tie, but they couldn't find the equalizer to finish the season 15-15 overall. BYU moves on to the semifinals and improves to 22-10.

Brandon Brown led the Lions with 22 points, including 14 in the second half. Petr Herman continued his stellar play down the stretch with a career-best 15 points with seven rebounds. He finished the game hitting 7-of-8 from the field in just 18 minutes of action. Buay Tuach, 14 points, and Steven Haney Jr., 11 points, gave the Lions four in double figures. Eric Mika led BYU with 25.

It was an uptempo game from the start as BYU finished the game hitting their first three three-pointers and finished the game 25-for-50 from the field and 7-for-16 from long distance. LMU, after shooting 40 percent in the first half, shot 54.3 percent to close the gap in the second half and finished 47.7 percent from the field (31-for-65). They hit 11-for-31 from three (35.5 percent).

The Lions trailed by 14 with 12:52 to play and it was 69-56 with 9:28 to play in the game. LMU then pushed back, going on an 11-0 run that started with back-to-back buckets in the paint from Herman. Haney ended the run with five straight points, making it 69-67 with 6:51 to play. It would get no closer as BYU went 14-for-16 from the free throw line the final six minutes.

GAMEDAY STORYLINES

• It was a fast pace to start and the Lions used a 12-1 run to hold a 22-17 lead, hitting 10 field goals in the first 12-plus minutes of the first half. However, BYU came back and the game sat tied at 30-30 after Shamar Johnson's field goal with 7:50 to play. The Lions would then go over three minutes without a point and hit just three field goals the rest of the way as BYU led 42-38.

• Six different Lions hit seven of their 11 three-pointers in the first half. Haney and Brown finished with three each. Haney finishes with 62 three-pointers on the season, ranked 17th all-time in LMU history. He runs his career total to 135, moving past Ben Ammerman (1994-98) for 10th all-time. Brown finishes the season with 54, good for a tie at 19th all-time. He ends his career with 76, tied for 22nd all-time.

• BYU finished the game with an edge at the charity stripe, hitting 32-for-39 (82.1) while the Lions went 8-for-14 (57.1 percent).

• The Lions defense was at it again. The league-leaders in steals collected 10 on the night from eight different players.

FROM COACH DUNLAP

• Postgame Quotes

• Postgame Press Conference on LMU Sports Network

GAMEDAY PHOTOS