SPOKANE, Wash. – Despite four first half lead changes and a single point separating the two teams through eight minutes of play, the nation's fifth-ranked team pulled away to take the West Coast Conference game, 73-55, on Thursday night.

"Too many easy baskets and turnovers," said Head Coach Mike Dunlap. "I liked our pushback, but you can't go on the road and have high turnovers. They had 42 points in the paint and it came from easy baskets and transition."
 
The Lions (13-5, 1-3 WCC) tied it early at 2-all with a mid-range jumper by James Batemon after Gonzaga (17-2, 4-0 WCC) scored on their first possession. Batemon also hit the three that gave LMU their first lead, 9-8, and finished the game with 12 points to lead LMU.
 
Joe Quintana hit a pair of big threes in the early going, one to tie the score at 6-6 with 16:06 to play in the first and again to stop a 7-0 Gonzaga run and make it a 1-possession game with 12:30 to play before halftime.
 
LMU benefited from a Zafir Williams at the 14:26 mark of the first to take another lead, 11-10.
 
Following Eli Scott's layup to make it a 21-18 game, the Bulldogs closed out the half on a 15-4 run.
 
Gonzaga extended the lead to as high as 29 in the second half, but the Lions kept fighting. LMU outscored GU 22-13 from when Gonzaga went back up 29 at the 8:57 mark.
 
LMU went on an 8-0 run in the game's final minutes, with Mattias Markusson scoring four of those eight.
 
Dameane Douglas added scored eight points and Eli Scott added seven.
 
The LMU defense stayed active throughout. The Zags turned the ball over 16 times, four times their game total on Saturday against San Francisco.
 
The Lions have a quick turnaround after a full travel day on Friday. LMU hosts Pepperdine in the home-leg of the PCHCup on Saturday at 1 p.m. coinciding with the university's LMU Day activities. The game will air in Los Angeles on Spectrum Sportsnet.