MALIBU, Calif. – For the first time this season, LMU men's basketball has won after trailing at the half. The Lions held Pepperdine to 29.4 percent shooting (10-for-34) and 12.5 percent from three (1-for-8) after intermission to erase a nine-point halftime deficit and win, 69-60.
 
Pepperdine hit their first five shots of the game and took a 16-7 lead in the first seven minutes of the game. Caleb Stone-Carrawell scored all seven of those points for the Lions. Stone-Carrawell scored 14 points and grabbed five rebounds.
 
Aaron McBride drove in for a dunk and Jan Vide hit a jumper to pull the Lions within five before the Waves went on a 11-2 run to build up a 14-point lead. Vide scored 10 points and hit double-digits in back-to-back games for the first time this season.
 
Pepperdine's lead grew to as large as 16 points in the first half, before LMU closed the half on a 9-2 run. Jevon Porter started the run with a three and Stone-Carrawell sent the Lions back into the locker room down single digits, 37-28, with a three as time expired.
 
Alex Merkviladze opened the second half with a three, but Pepperdine responded with eight of the next ten points to build their lead back up to a dozen. Merkviladze scored all five of his points and grabbed all of his team-high nine rebounds in the second half.
 
Will Johnston scored 18 of his game-high 20 points in the second half including an impressive alley-oop turned made field goal and a transition three to bring the Lions within seven with 15:53 to play.
 
Johnston then started a 22-2 run including scoring the final eight unanswered points to completely flip the score from down nine to up 11. The 22-2 run lasted nine minutes and 42 seconds and featured 10 points from Johnston, six points from Vide, and threes from Porter and Stone-Carrawell.
 
A final three by Johnston pushed the senior to the 20-point threshold on 8-for-12 shooting.
 
Porter closed the game with a dunk in his return to Pepperdine after playing for the Waves the last two seasons. Porter shot 6-for-10 for 14 points against his former team.
 
LMU shot 55.2 percent (16-for-29), 50 percent from three (5-for-10), and a perfect 4-for-4 from the free throw line in the second half. The 87.5 percent (7-for-8) mark from the free throw line was a season-high mark. LMU finished over 50 percent for the game, shooting 27-for-53 (50.9 percent) on the night.
 
The full week continues for LMU as the Lions will host Pacific on Thursday at Gersten Pavilion before traveling to Portland for a Saturday night game against the Pilots.
 
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