Jan. 1, 2009

Box Score

Seattle, WA - In the first half Loyola Marymount looked on a mission to spoil Seattle University's return to hosting NCAA Division-I basketball. However, the Lions went ice cold in the second half and Seattle took advantage for a 49-39 win at KeyArena in Seattle on Thursday night.

LaRon Amrstead had a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds while Jared DuBois added 10 points, hitting 6-for-6 from the free throw line. Marko Deric added eight rebounds, a career-high.

The Lions had their best opening half of the season as they took a lead as large as nine and led 25-21 at the break. Armstead had all 10 of his points and six boards in the half.

However, it fell apart in the second half as the Lions had just two field goals and 14 points in the second half. Seattle meanwhile shot 44.4 percent in the second half compared to just 35 percent in the first half.

"We did a great job executing on defense to give us quality opportunities in the first half," said Acting Head Coach Max Good. "Then we just didn't do anything in the second half. We had our opportunity and we just didn't execute the final 20 minutes."

LMU hit 2-for-18 from the field in the second half (11 percent) and finished just 10-for-38 (26.3 percent) as DuBois and frontcourt mate Corey Counts played all 40 minutes. They did control the free throw line, hitting 17-for-22 from the stripe (77.3 percent) to just 4-for-7 for Seattle.

"Can't shoot 11 percent in a half and expect to win," said Good. "However, we were still in it and then miss three straight box outs on their free throw misses down the stretch. Just can't do that."

The Lions will finish non-conference play when they host Cal State Bakersfield on Sunday at Gersten Pavilion. Start time is 3:05 p.m. The game can be heard on KXLU 88.9 FM and LMULions.com.