MONTEGO BAY, Jamaica – With a strong second half effort, the Loyola Marymount men's basketball team overcame a halftime deficit to defeat Georgetown, 65-52. The Lions move to 4-0 and hand the Hoyas (3-1) their first loss of the season with the win on the opening night of the Jamaica Classic.
 
The Lions started the game 1-for-11 from the field, with James Batemon's three the only shot to fall. Joe Quintana shut down the drought an tied the game at 6-all with his triple. Zafir Williams swooped into the basket to follow and push LMU ahead, 8-6, and part of a 7-0 run.
 
The Hoyas answered with a run of their own and took back the lead 14-10 following eight unanswered. The LMU guards scored back-to-back points in the paint as Cameron Allen floated one home and James Batemon beat his defender to the bucket.
 
Georgetown closed out the first half on a 6-1 run to take their largest lead of the half into the locker room, 26-21.
 
An Erik Johansson three sparked a 12-0 run to open the second half and give the lead back to the Lions. The junior hit his opening three, then Batemon personally outscored Georgetown 10-2 to give LMU a 36-28 lead with just over 15 to play. Batemon finished with a game-high 27 points to match his season-best.
 
The Lions pushed the lead to nine points on a Mattias Markusson and-one with 11:44 on the clock. The junior center converted the free throw to push LMU ahead 43-34.
 
The lead continued to grow as Jordan Bell knocked down a three-ball on a possession where his offensive rebound kept the ball with LMU. A Markusson slam pushed it to 15 points with a 54-39 advantage with 5:22 remaining. Markusson finished with a season-best 13 rebounds to go along with his nine points.
 
The Lions closed out the game at the free throw line. Batemon was a perfect 13-for-13 from the charity stripe, and the team finished at a 88 percent (22-for-25) mark from the line.
 
As a team, the Lions outrebounded Georgetown 42-30, with Batemon tying his career-high and Dameane Douglas setting a career-high in his first career start. Both players corralled eight boards.
 
LMU overcame 25 perfect (8-for-32) shooting in the first half with a 49 percent (11-for-23) mark in the second half.
 
The Lions now shift focus to Ohio University, Sunday's opponent in the Jamaica Classic. Ohio lost their opening matchup of the tournament, 73-46, to South Florida.