Feb. 21, 2009

Box Score

Portland, OR - Another deep-hearted effort by the Loyola Marymount's youthful roster saw the Lions erase a halftime deficit and take a late five-point lead over the West Coast Conference's second place team, the Portland Pilots. However, the youth couldn't capitalize down the stretch as the Pilots pulled out a 73-65 win at the Chiles Center Saturday night.

Freshman Jarred DuBois led the Lions with 19 points while Vernon Teel added 18 points, six assists, two blocks and two steals. Marko Deric added 11 points and Kevin Young had nine points and six rebounds. Kramer Knutson had 19 to lead Portland and Nik Raivio went for 15 points and 10 boards.

"We played really well, especially the first 14 minutes of the second half," said Head Coach Max Good. "However, when we got down to the final minutes, they hit the shots and made the plays down the stretch. We showed our youth and didn't hit shots when we needed them."

LMU entered the second half down 39-32 and remained down seven, 44-37, after a Raivio three-pointer at the 18:33 mark. The Lions went on a 13-3 run the next six minutes as the Lions cut the lead to a pair, 46-44, when Teel hit a 16-footer with 16:14 to play.

Young's put back made it 47-46 and Sweezy gave the Lions their first lead since 17:09 of the first half with a lay-in, making it 48-47 LMU with 13:16 to play in the game. DuBois then put the lead at three, 50-47, with a driving lay-in with 12:21 to play.

The LMU lead grew to five when Teel made it 54-49 with a jumper at 10:42. However, Portland worked back and retook the lead at 57-56 with 5:23 on the clock.

DuBois got his lay-in to roll around the rim to give LMU a 58-57 lead with 4:14 to play. However, it would be the Lions last lead as the Pilots went on 8-0 run to go up 65-58 with 1:27 to play to put the game out of reach.

The Lions trailed by just seven at the break despite Portland shooting 50 percent (14-for-28) from the field compared to LMU's 33.3 percent (9-for-27). The Lions stayed in single digits thanks to individual scoring runs. Early in the half it was Deric with nine points. DuBois followed with eight points in the middle of the half and Teel capped it with nine points, going 5-for-8 from the charity stripe. in the first and 44.4 percent from long range (4-for-9).

LMU forced Portland into 15 turnovers and tied their season low with just eight themselves. Portland finished the game hitting 55 percent from the field on the game, hitting 12-for-19 (63.2 percent) in the second half. LMU hit on 40 percent for the game, hitting 14-for-30 in the second half (46.7 percent).

"We did a much better job on their outside game, limiting them to just three three-point attempts in the second half," said Good. "But they killed us down low."

The Lions head home for their final two regular season games, starting with San Francisco on Thursday, Feb. 26 at 7 p.m.

- GO LIONS -