LOS ANGELES – LMU men's basketball was unable to overcome an offensive flurry by Saint Louis on Tuesday night as the Billikens defeated the Lions, 91-70. The bright spot in the loss for LMU was the career-high 19-point effort on 7-for-11 shooting from freshman AJ Thomas.
 
After allowing the first two points, the Lions tied the game at 4-4 on a Rick Issanza putback jumper. The 7-1 center scored four points but was limited in playing time due to foul trouble.
 
The Lions took their lone lead of the game at the 15:31 mark of the first half after Myron "MJ" Amey Jr. knocked down a three and Jalen Shelley hit a go-ahead layup to push LMU ahead, 11-10. Saint Louis responded with an 11-0 run to take their first double-digit lead of the night.
 
LMU cut the deficit to six points with a layup by Thomas, a jumper by Rokas Jocius, and a Jael Martin putback layup. 
 
SLU closed the half on a 15-5 run over the final seven minutes to take a 40-24 lead into intermission.
 
The Lions started with the first four points out of halftime to pull within a dozen before Saint Louis scored the next seven to go ahead by 19. 
 
Thomas scored the next six unanswered points to bring the Lions within 13 with 15:20 to play, the first of four times it got down to 13 the rest of the game.
 
An 8-0 run at the midway point of the half also pulled the Lions within 13 as Shelley bookended it with a dunk and layup as part of his 15 points.
 
Thomas finished 2-for-2 for three, including one at 5:18 that brought LMU within 13 for the final time, 72-59.
 
Thomas and Shelley each recorded career-high marks in steals with four and three, respectively. LMU's 11 steals tie a season high. Thomas also tied his career-high with five rebounds to lead the team.
 
Saint Louis scored the most points against the Lions this season with 91 and shot the best percentage from the floor at 50.7 percent (35-for-69). The Billikens also grabbed 47 rebounds and dished out 24 assists against LMU, the most of an opponent this season as well.
 
The Lions will not play for two more weeks. LMU will host UC San Diego on Dec. 16 at Gersten Pavilion. The Tritons were an NCAA Tournament team a season ago.
 
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