Men earn rivalry revenge, 77-61

LMU jumped out to an early lead Saturday night and never looked back, cruising to a 77-61 victory over Pepperdine, snapping the Waves’ 11-game win streak against the Lions. Sophomore Drew Viney had his second straight 20-point game, contributing 22 points and six rebounds. The Lions are now 12-12 overall and 3-5 in WCC play.

Viney got out to a hot start Saturday, knocking down his first three shots of the game to help the Lions take a 12-3 lead. The Lions extended that lead to 13 points at halftime.

“I’ve been getting a lot of shots off in practice recently and the touch and feel and everything just feels really good,” said Viney after the game. “Bo [Kimble] came into practice last week and told us shooters to get 1000 shots in every day. I’ve been doing that the past couple of days and it is really paying off.”

Junior Vernon Teel added 18 points, seven assists and four rebounds for the Lions while only committing one turnover. As a team, LMU had 20 assists and just seven turnovers, while forcing Pepperdine to commit 14 turnovers and dish out just nine assists.

“[DuBois] was back,” said Teel after the game when asked what kept the turnovers down so much. “It allowed me to play off the ball a little bit and really look to find my teammates. Drew came out hot so I knew I just had to get him the ball.”

Viney started out the second half just like he did the first, scoring the first bucket of the period, which extended LMU’s lead to 15. With the score sitting at 43-28 thanks to a bucket from Teel, the Lions went on a 14-0 run to give themselves their biggest lead of the game at 57-30. During that stretch, LMU received four points from sophomore Kevin Young and six points from Teel.

The Waves, however, weren’t completely crushed, and after foul trouble put Viney on the bench Pepperdine got as close as within 12 late in the second half. Solid free throw shooting from the Lions stopped any chance of a Waves’ comeback, as LMU shot 15-20 from the line. Young had a perfect night from the stripe, converting five of five free throws.

Sophomore Jarred DuBois returned to the court for the Lions after missing four games due to dehydration. He scored 15 points and had five assists.

In addition to DuBois, who finished playing 33 minutes in his first game since Jan. 16, Ashley Hamilton was back in the line-up for the first time since Jan. 21. He finished with four points and four rebounds in 18 minutes.

“I thought Thursday was our best practice in a long time because we had people there. We have been playing prevent defense and haven't been very physical because we didn't want to get anyone hurt. This was the most complete team we have had since the Notre Dame-Long Beach State games, and we were able to get much more physical on defense" said Head Coach Max Good. “Getting Jarred back, obviously, was a huge component because he takes care of the ball, can hit from long range and then down the stretch he is big because he can hit free throws.”

The Lions finished the game shooting 50 percent from the field, while holding the Waves to just 35.3 percent.

“Coach Good has been talking to us about trying to be a more intense, in-your-face defensive team,” said Viney. “Because we have been losing guys, and not having subs, we couldn’t afford to do some things. Now that we have people back we can do a lot more.”

The Lions scored 20 points off turnovers while the Waves had just two. LMU also outscored Pepperdine 13-0 on fast break points.

Young was the fourth player in double-figures for LMU, adding 15 points and four rebounds while playing an impressive 38 minutes.

The win was important for the Lions, as they had lost to Pepperdine earlier this season in Malibu, a game in which they also held a 13-point lead at halftime. The Lions and Waves now sit in a tie for fifth in the WCC standings, half a game behind San Francisco.

“This is a great win for us going into the second half of conference,” said Teel. “Hopefully we can be 5-5 when we come back home next week.”

The Lions will now travel north for a two-game road trip that begins Thursday at Santa Clara. LMU will then take on San Francisco on Saturday.