LOS ANGELES – The Loyola Marymount University men's basketball team matched their season-high with a dozen steals to take the quarterfinal leg of the Roman CBI, 81-63, on Monday night. The Lions (22-11) made 30 field goals, the most against a Division I opponent this year, to beat Brown (20-12) and advance to the semifinals Thursday night at South Florida.
 
"When we brought the pressure up full court, it changed the complexion of the game," said Head Coach Mike Dunlap. "We ended up with 56 deflections, that's our high for the season. The pressure changed things."
 
LMU opened the game 3-for-3 and took an early 5-0 lead before Brown took their only lead of the game 10-9.
 
Off a Brown defensive rebound, Jeffery McClendon stripped the ball under the basket and put up the quick layup and drawing the foul for a three-point play to give LMU a 31-22 lead with 8:04 to play in the first. The senior shared game-high honors with Joe Quintana with three steals apiece. Brown committed 20 turnovers, compared to LMU's 10.
 
The Bears utilized a 9-0 run to take their first lead of the game, 34-33, with 4:28 to play until halftime. A Batemon three and a Petr Herman layup quickly put the Lions back on top. LMU closed out the half on an 11-3 run to take a 44-37 lead into the locker room. LMU's senior class combined for 36 points, with James Batemon (21), Herman (8), and McClendon (7) all finding their offense in the game.
 
The lead was quickly built up to 13 points as LMU scored 11 of the first 16 points of the second half. Quintana hit threes on consecutive offensive possessions to push the lead to 15 with 12:35 to play, and finished with 12 points on the night.
 
An 11-0 run in the final minutes pushed it to a game-high 23-point lead, before Brown closed it out with seven of the final nine.
 
Mattias Markusson and Zafir Williams each finished in double-figures for the Lions, contributing 11 points apiece.
 
LMU shot 92.3 percent (12-for-13) from the free throw line, eclipsing the 90 percent mark from the charity stripe for the first time since 2016.
 
"We want to build a program here that the fans and everybody here is proud of," said Dunlap. "At the minimum we can say that we took a big step forward this year, and that's really important to us. Now, we go to a very tough South Florida team. We've seen them in the Jamaica Classic, so we're excited about that opportunity."
 
The Lions will tip at 7 p.m. EST at Yuengling Center in Tampa. The game will be streamed through South Florida's website. The winner will advance to the best-of-three final round against the winner of Wednesday's Coastal Carolina at DePaul game.