LOS ANGELES – LMU men's basketball found a way to climb all the way back once again to defeat Morgan State, 81-80. The Lions improve to 5-2 on the season with the win and extend the team's win streak to three games, which did not happen all of last season.
 
Morgan State built up a double-digit lead in the first half, largely behind the 18 points scored by Isaiah Burke before intermission. Cam Shelton scored 12 first half points and Keli Leaupepe was halfway to his double-double with nine points and five points in the opening 20 minutes. The Bears took a 46-38 lead into intermission.
 
Leaupepe opened the second half with six unanswered points and a personal 8-2 run to cut the the deficit to within two. After Morgan State built their lead back up to nine, Shelton and Leaupepe combined for the next six points to make it a 60-57 game with less than 10 minutes to play.
 
The Lions continued to trail until Cam Shelton closed a 7-0 run with back-to-back layups to push LMU ahead with 1:29 on the clock. After Morgan State hit one of two free throws on their ensuing possession, Shelton again found himself in the paint for the go-ahead layup with less than a minute to play in regulation. Coming from an out-of-bounds play, the Bears stole the ball and tied the game with a dunk at 74-all to force overtime.
 
After the Bears scored the first four points of the extra period, Leaupepe took advantage of the Lions in the double bonus. Leaupepe finished with 15 made free throws, which is tied for second in LMU's all-time single game records. Evan Payne (11/26/14) and Brandon Worthy (2/11/06) also hit 15 in a game, while the program record stands at 19 from Bo Kimble against Oklahoma on Dec. 23, 1989.
 
Leaupepe tied it at the Line with 2:12 on the clock and then Shelton lifted the Lions ahead with another layup for the lead. Morgan State score just two single free throws over the last 3:50 of overtime as LMU ended the game on a 7-2 run to win by a point.
 
Both Shelton and Leaupepe put on career performances and set new personal scoring records for their LMU careers. Shelton scored 26 points on 10 made field goals, both career bests for him in an LMU uniform. Leaupepe scored 29 points and did so with those 15 free throws, and also recorded his second double-double of the year with 11 rebounds.
 
Jalin Anderson added 11 points, while Chance Stephens knocked down a pair of threes and Rick Issanza hit three shots for six points apiece.
 
The last time LMU won consecutive overtime games was to close out the 2015-16 regular season. The Lions defeated San Francisco by 13 in overtime then followed a week later with a seven-point win in double overtime against Pepperdine. This year's Lions won the two overtime games by a combined three points.
 
The Lions will play a second noon game this week, hosting Bellarmine on Friday at 12:00 PM. This is a return trip from when LMU defeated the Knights in Louisville last season. 

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