SAN DIEGO – LMU men's basketball and San Diego split the season series after each team won on their home courts. The Toreros knocked off the Lions, 87-79, on Saturday night in a game that featured nine ties and 11 lead changes.
 
Michael Graham put LMU ahead 4-3 with the first two of his 10 first half points. San Diego responded with nine unanswered to take a 12-4 advantage.
 
The Lions then rattled off a 12-2 run including nine in a row of their own. Alex Merkviladze scored the first five points of the run, with Chance Stephens knocking in a three and Kwane Marble and Graham finishing at the rim.
 
Following a series of lead changes, the Toreros used another big run of 10-straight points to build up a double-digit lead. The Lions cut it down to four, before going into the locker room for halftime trailing 43-38.
 
The Lions came out firing to open the second half with the first four made field goals being three pointers. Shelton knocked down three triples and Justin Ahrens added a fourth.
 
Graham put the Lions on top with an offensive rebound putback, one of his nine offensive rebounds as part of his 14 point and 15 rebound double-double. Graham finished the game 7-for-8 from the field.
 
A 13-3 run by LMU over a 4:45 stretch gave the Lions their largest lead of the day. Keli Leaupepe scored nine of those 13 points to push the Lions ahead 65-55 with 12:09 to play. Leaupepe scored 15 points and grabbed six rebounds.
 
San Diego responded with a 21-2 of their own, including 18 unanswered to flip the score and push the Toreros back ahead by nine with 4:43 remaining.

Jalin Anderson put an end to that run with back-to-back threes to bring it back to a one-possession game with 3:13 to play. USD answered with the next seven points to take a double-digit lead.
 
Shelton scored the final six points for the Lions, but San Diego hit 27-of-33 free throws in the game to secure the victory. Shelton led the team with 25 points and four rebounds.
 
Along with Graham's nine offensive rebounds, the Lions grabbed 17 as a team on the offensive glass leading to 12 second chance points.
 
Anderson scored eight points and Merkviladze scored seven of LMU's 20 bench points.
 
Following the two-game road swing, the Lions return home to host nationally-ranked Saint Mary's on Thursday night at Gersten Pavilion.

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