LOS ANGELES – The LMU men's basketball team is 1-0 in the Stan Johnson era after the Lions fought from behind to knock off Southern Utah, 85-83, on the opening day of the 2020-21 college basketball season.
 
The Lions overcame a double-digit deficit, nine tie scores, and 11 lead changes to put themselves in a position to win on the game's final possession.
 
With Southern Utah scoring on the other end and completing a three-point play to tie the game, LMU got the ball back with 18 seconds and the score even at 83-all.
 
Eli Scott dribbled the ball to the corner where it was knocked loose and found Jalin Anderson in the short corner. The freshman calmly took one dribble forward, rose up, and sunk the jumper with the clock showing triple zeros.
 
Anderson was one of five Lions with a dozen or more points, a feat that an LMU team last accomplished in the season-opener last season to defeat Westcliff.
 
Mattias Markusson shared game-high honors with 19 points, three off of his career-high in his first game back in over a year. Dameane Douglas scored 16 and Joe Quintana added eight points after the pair sat all of 2019-20 with injury.
 
Keli Leaupepe scored a dozen of his own and Eli Scott put in a well-rounded 11-point, eight rebound, and seven assist game. The only other Lion to score was grad transfer Quentin Jackson, Jr with seven points.
 
Southern Utah opened the game 5-for-6 from three and built a dozen point lead as part of a 14-3 run early in the first. The Thunderbirds would shoot 54 percent (7-for-13) from three over the first 20 minutes. That number dropped to 4-for-12 in the second half to make it 44 percent for the game.
 
Despite being down double-digits less than five minutes into the game, LMU responded with the next seven points to cut it to a 19-14 game following a pair of Markusson baskets in the paint and capped by a triple off the hands of Jalin Anderson.
 
The Lions continued to chip away in the half and eventually evened the score at 32-all with 3:09 remaining in the half on consecutive layups by Keli Leaupepe.
 
LMU finally jumped ahead on a Joe Quintana triple with just over two minutes remaining until the half.
 
The lead would flip a few more times as Southern Utah took the one-point advantage into the break, ahead 42-41.
Markusson pushed LMU ahead off an offensive rebound to open the second half. The Thunderbirds kept it within five until they retook the advantage with 12:22 off a 5-0 run.
 
The Lions trailed by four points on four separate occasions until Douglas hit a go-ahead three with 2:23 remaining.
 
Despite playing only eight guys, the LMU bench outscored Southern Utah's second unit 31-18.
 
LMU will now travel to Minneapolis to face Minnesota on both Saturday and Monday. The Gophers picked up a 30-point win in their opener. Game information will be available on LMULions.com.
 
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