LOS ANGELES – The Loyola Marymount men's basketball team (13-3, 1-1 WCC) remained undefeated at home this season with the team's 76-64 win (7-9, 0-1 WCC) over Portland on Saturday. The win was Head Coach Mike Dunlap's 400^thcareer NCAA victory.
 

With today's win, @CoachMikeDunlap now has 4️⃣0⃣0⃣ career wins!#JoinThePride pic.twitter.com/Nr2H2gFfGs

— LMU Men's Basketball (@lmulionsMBB) January 6, 2019

 
"Having four guys in double figures made it hard for Portland to cover just Batemon," said Head Coach Mike Dunlap. "They boxed and one him, then all of a sudden Mattias gets loose and Eli gets loose. Quintana was unbelievable."
 
After the two sides kept trading baskets early, LMU retook the lead for good with back-to-back threes by Joe Quintana and Jordan Bell with 13 minutes remaining in the first half. Quintana finished with a career-high 19 points to lead the Lions, while Bell added five off the bench.
 
A few minutes later the Lions jumped on a 13-0 run, part of a larger 21-4 run, to push the lead to 17 points, 35-18.
 
The Lions ended up carrying a 13-point halftime lead, 38-25, with Mattias Markusson scoring the final three points of the half. Markusson finished with 17 points and 10 rebounds for his second double-double of the season and eighth in his career.
 
An 11-0 Portland run in the second to cut to four points, with 11:16 remaining in the game. The Lions responded with a 6-0 run created by a pair of Eli Scott jumpers and a James Batemon drive to the basket. Scott and Batemon finished with 15 and 14 points, respectively.
 
Portland used a late 8-0 run to make it a five-point game once again, but another LMU answer with a 7-0 run of their own, all on free throws, into the final minute secured the victory.
 
"Our defense was stubborn, and that's who we are," said Dunlap. "We had 18 assists, which means we were willing to pass the ball more. We had high turnovers in the first half and only one in the second half. If we can keep our turnovers under 10, we generally win."
 
LMU's 18 assists tied the season-high against Division I opponents with the 18 mark set in the previous home win over UC Davis. The Lions finished with a 2:1 assist-to-turnover margin on the day, finishing with nine turnovers.
 
"A lot of really good players contributed to those win," said Dunlap. "And the staff, I've had great, great assistants.
 
Dunlap has twice as many career wins as losses, with an overall record of 400-200.
 
LMU has one game this upcoming week, a Saturday home contest against Saint Mary's. The game will air locally on Spectrum Sportsnet.