LOS ANGELES – The LMU men's basketball team won by 17 points on Saturday night after turning a six-point halftime lead into an 81-64 win over the University of Pacific. Several Lions impacted the game on the glass as well as offensively, as LMU outrebounded the Tigers, 46-23.
 
LMU never trailed in the game as Alex Merkviladze started the night with the game's first four points. Pacific tied the game twice, at 4-4 and again at 14-14, until LMU held the lead for the rest of the way starting with a 5-0 run to push ahead 19-14.

Will Johnston completed an and-1 to give LMU their largest lead of the first half, 32-24, with 3:35 to play. Johnston added a three with 13 seconds remaining in the half to help take the Lions to intermission with a 39-33 lead.
 
The Lions went up by nine first on a three by Dominick Harris and then again on a layup by Justin Wright. The pair combined for 43 as LMU had two 20-point performers for the first time since November.
 
Michael Graham collected his 500^th career collegiate rebound on one of his five offensive boards on the night midway through the second half. He quickly put the second-chance layup in and gave LMU another nine-point lead with 13:08 to play. Graham finished with eight total rebounds.
 
The Lions finally pushed it to double-digits as part of a 5-0 run capped off by a layup from Keli Leaupepe. The senior captain added 11 points and seven rebounds.
 
Leaupepe and Harris bookended an 8-0 run with a pair of threes that pushed the lead to 20 points, 69-49, with 6:13 to play.
 
Pacific scored seven unanswered in the final minute and a half to pull within 13, but Merkviladze closed the game with four free throws to finish at 10 points and 11 rebounds for his first career double-double. His 11 rebounds are his high in his three years with the Lions after hitting a total of nine boards in six different games. Merkviladze recorded three double-doubles in his freshman season at CSUN.
 
Wright finished with a season-high in points with 22, field goals with 10, and rebounds with nine, all while committing only one turnover.
 
Harris scored 16 of his 21 in the second half after playing a team-high 38 minutes.
 
LMU's defense held Pacific to 3-for-13 (23 percent) shooting from three.
 
The Lions will play on the road for the first time in conference next week, traveling to San Francisco on Thursday and then back to Southern California to face Pepperdine in Malibu on Saturday night.
 
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