Nov. 8, 2007

Long Beach, CA - It was a fitting end to the Loyola Marymount men's water polo regular season as they fell to seventh-ranked Long Beach State 8-7 in six overtimes at the 49er Campus Pool Thursday night. In a game that lasted nearly two hours, it goes down as the longest game in program history and marks the 10th time this season they Lions have fallen in a game decided in the final period.

Long Beach State's Travis Buchanan scored the game winner at the 2:20 mark of the sixth overtime period to lift the 49ers over the 12th-ranked Lions. The two squads have played twice this season, both going into overtime. The 49ers won 11-8 on Oct. 4 at the Burns Center. Long Beach improves to 17-10 on the season while LMU falls to 10-15.

For the Lions, 14 of their 15 losses have come against teams ranked in the top-10 and this one marks the 10th time it came down to the closing minutes.

The teams played to a 6-6 tie at the end of regulation, but things were just getting started. After a scoreless overtime period, the 49ers looked to take control when Ash Blythen scored at the 2:32 mark in the second overtime to give LBSU a 7-6 lead. However, junior Mark Milovic scored with just 53 seconds left to tie it. Freshman goalie Andy Stevens made a key save on Long Beach State's final attempt to send it to sudden death overtime.

After three scoreless overtime periods, Buchanan scored from 12 yards out for the win.

LMU jumped out to a 3-1 lead after the first frame and held a 4-2 lead at the break. Ryan Fair, who led the Lions with two goals, scored on the first possession of the third period to push the Lions to a 5-2 lead.

The score would be 6-4 entering the fourth frame and Long Beach State would hold LMU scoreless while getting a pair of goals, including the tying goal at the 3:23 mark.

The goalies came up big as Stevens finished with 11 saves and LBSU's Steve McKenzie had to make a career-high 17 to earn the win.

BOX SCORE:
#12 LMU - 3 - 1 - 2 - 0 - 0 - 1 - 0 --- 7
#7 LBSU - 1 - 1 - 2 - 2 - 0 - 1 - 1 --- 8
Scoring: LMU - Ryan Fair 2, Julien Lormant, Mark Milovic, Tim Heafner, Tibor Forai, Derek Milligan. LBSU - Jake Kinne 2, Justin Koeppen 2, Ash Blythen 2, Jeff Greenwood, Travis Buchanan.
Saves: LMU - Andy Stevens 11; LBSU - Steve McKenzie 17.