LOS ANGELES – In a day filled with memories, emotion, and excitement, the Lions welcomed back the 1989-90 Elite Eight team and unveiled a statue honoring their fallen teammate, Hank Gathers. Following the emotion-filled ceremony, the team celebrated the career of senior Erik Johansson before taking on University of San Francisco. The Lions picked up the steal they needed in the final seconds and had a look for the win, but came rimmed out resulting in a 69-67 loss.
 
San Francisco opened the game with a triple, but LMU was fueled by a career-game by Jordan Bell from the start. Bell hit jumpers for LMU's first two points and started the game with six of the first nine Lion points. Bell scored 25 points for his first-career 20-point game on 11-for-17 shooting.
 
Parker Dortch and Keli Leaupepe each added five points apiece in the 14-2 run that gave the Lions an 11-point lead with 9:46 to play in the first half, 21-10. USF responded with eight unanswered and their own 14-2 run to take the lead right back with 4:41 to play in the half.
 
Eli Scott nearly brought the house down with an enormous breakaway slam dunk to push LMU ahead at the 2:42 mark. The Dons scored the lone remaining basket from that point on to take the 31-30 lead into intermission. Scott finished with six rebounds and six assists to go along with four points.
 
The Lions went back on top with a Leaupepe layup to open the second half and used a 7-0 run to extend the lead to 41-36 after five-straight points by Bell. Leaupepe scored 16 points on an efficient 7-for-9.
 
San Francisco limited the LMU attack and built up an 11-point lead with 4:57 remaining. That's when LMU went on a 9-0 run to make it a one possession game, 64-62.
 
The two teams traded possessions down the stretch with Seikou Sisoho Jawara getting to the rim with nine seconds remaining to make it a two-point game. In a full court defense, LMU forced the steal with Erik Johansson coming up with an errant pass. Johansson dished it off, then set his footing and received the ball back with a shot to win. The ball did not go through, as LMU lost the regular season finale. Sisoho Jawara scored eight points for the Lions.
 
The game featured 14 lead changes and nine tie scores, with each team holding an 11-point lead.

The Lions will enter the conference championships as the eighth seed, and will play San Diego for just the second this season. The Lions beat the Toreros back in the conference opener on Jan. 2, 64-58. The tournament time for the 8/9 game will be at 6 p.m. on Thursday from the Orleans Arena.