LOS ANGELES – LMU men's basketball is set to close out the regular season on Thursday night as #23 Saint Mary's comes to Gersten Pavilion with a new national ranking and the West Coast Conference's regular season championship wrapped up. 

The last time the Gaels came into Hank's House nationally ranked, LMU pulled off a thrilling overtime win to knock off the 15th-ranked team on February 9th, 2024. In fact, over the last two seasons, LMU and Saint Mary's are 1-1 in matchups on the Lions' home court, with each team totaling exactly 142 points scored and allowed. 

Only Alex Merkviladze and Rick Issanza played in that win against SMC two seasons ago. Merkviladze scored 15 points on 6-for-10 shooting. In Saturday's win over Pepperdine, Merkviladze led the Lions with 21 points and became the 38th player to score 1,000 career points in an LMU uniform. In his entire college basketball career, Merkviladze has scored 1238 points. 

LMU is one of only 19 teams across Division I with five or more 1,000-point scorers on the roster. Joining Merkviladze is Myron Amey, Jr., Will Johnston, Jevon Porter, and Caleb Stone- Carrawell. All five players surpassed the scoring milestone this season. 

The Lions enter the game with a 16-13 record overall and rank sixth in the WCC. At three-games over .500 on the season and with just this game and the WCC Tournament ahead, Coach Stan Johnson will the first coach since Paul Westhead to have three winning seasons in a five-year span. Additionally, the program has not finished above .500 in three out of five seasons since the 1987-1992 stretch. 

Prior to the game, LMU's Senior Class will be recognized for their contributions to the program. This group includes #4 Will Johnston, #10 Lamaj Lewis, #22 Rick Issanza, #23 Alex Merkviladze, and #25 Caleb Stone-Carrawell. Doors will open at 7:00 PM, with the Senior Day Ceremony scheduled to begin at 7:30 PM.

The game will air on CBS Sports Network and be called by Rich Waltz and Dan Dickau. This will be LMU's third time on CBS Sports Network this season. The Lions went 2-0 in Mexico to claim the Cancun Challenge Classic title back in November with wins over Belmont and Wyoming on CBS Sports Network. The MTE win was Johnson's second in three years after his 2022-23 team also won their in-season tournament at the Jamaica Classic in that same season as the home win over Saint Mary's. 

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