Box Score Elton Mashack Leads All Scorers In The Game With Career-High 23 Points
Los Angeles, Calif., Friday, January 28, 2000 -- Santa Clara sprinted out to a 14-5 lead and never looked back as it raced past Loyola Marymount tonight, 70-55, in a West Coast Conference game at Gersten Pavilion. Three players scored in double figures for the Broncos, however, LMU junior forward Elton Mashack finished with a career-high 23 to lead all scorers in the contest.
Santa Clara (12-8, 3-2 WCC) opened the game with a quick 14-5 lead and took advantage of 10 first-half turnovers by the Lions to build a 34-23 halftime advantage. Over half of the Broncos first-half points (18) came off turnovers. SCU shot just 35.0 percent in the period (14-40), while the Lions went into the intermission shooting 38.5 percent (10-26). Santa Clara led by as many as 11 points (22-11) with 7:56 to play in the half, and outrebounded the Lions, 28-16, including 14 on the offensive glass.
Loyola Marymount (2-16, 0-5 WCC) struggled to hold off Santa Clara in the opening minutes of the second half. Trailing by 20 points (50-30) with 10:51 to play, the Lions managed to cut SCU's lead to 15, however, the Broncos went on a 14-1 run to take a 66-38 lead with 5:48 remaining, their largest lead of the game. The Lions made a valiant comeback late, cutting SCU's lead to 13 points (68-54) on the heels of a 17-4 run to close out the game.
Three players scored in double figures for the Broncos who shot 35.2 percent in the contest (25-71). Nathan Fast and Brian Jones each had 14 for Santa Clara, while Jamie Holmes added 13. Todd Wuschnig paced the Broncos with a game-high 10 rebounds. Loyola Marymount shot 33.3 percent from the field (17-51), and just 2-of-17 from three-point range (11.8 percent). Despite its fifth-straight loss, LMU was led by Elton Mashack who tallied a career-high 23 points. The mark surpassed his previous high of 22 set twice last season against California Baptist (1-2-99) and at San Diego (1-21-99).
Santa Clara was able to control the game with its efforts on the glass. SCU outrebounded the Lions by a margin of 52-35. The Broncos had 25 offensive rebounds, equaling LMU's 25 on the defensive end of the floor. Dropping its fifth-consecutive WCC loss tonight, the Lions equaled an 0-5 effort LMU experienced during the 1990-91 season under then first-year head coach Jay Hillock who took over for Paul Westhead following LMU's run to the Elite Eight in 1990. LMU will hope to avoid an 0-6 start in conference play tomorrow night against visiting San Francisco. A loss would send the Lions to 0-6 in conference action, one loss shy of LMU's all-time worst start in conference play (0-7) in school history set during the 1957-58 campaign.
Loyola Marymount returns to action tomorrow night when it plays host to San Francisco at Gersten Pavilion. Tip-off is set for 7:05 p.m. LMU then heads north next week to face Portland (Feb. 3) and Gonzaga (Feb. 5). All LMU games can be heard live on KXLU Radio 88.9 FM in Los Angeles.
- GO LIONS -
