Short-Handed LMU Falls Short Against San Francisco

Despite having only six active players, the Loyola Marymount Lions (12-18, 4-14) lost a close one to the San Francisco Dons (20-10, 13-5) by a score of 65-61.

The Dons had a three point lead with about seven seconds left, but were called for a five second violation on the inbounds pass, giving the Lions another possession to try and tie the game. C.J. Blackwell had a good look from 3-point range, but it didn’t fall. Tim Derksen was then fouled, and knocked down the first free throw with just over two seconds left to ice the game.

San Francisco was led by Avry Holmes, who dropped 25 points on the depleted Lions. Kruize Pinkins also had a nice game, scoring 12 points and grabbing 11 rebounds to post a double-double. Cole Dickerson also finished in double figures with 14 points and Matt Glover also posted double-digit rebounds with 11. Glover led the Dons with five assists.

Anthony Ireland, Evan Payne and C.J. Blackwell all led the Lions in scoring with 13 points. Ireland led the Lions in assists with six, and Alex Osborne’s 10 rebounds were a team-high for LMU.

Keys to the Game Checklist

San Francisco

(Check) Pound the Rock

Mark Tollefsen had an off-night (two points), but Cole Dickerson and Kruize Pinkins combined for 26 points tonight.

Loyola Marymount

(Push) Ireland on Senior Night

It’s hard to knock Ireland for scoring 16 points and dishing out 6 assists, but it wasn’t quite enough to get the Lions the victory. We will all wonder why he was not taking the potential game tying shot in the waning seconds of the game, though.

Moving Forward

With the win, San Francisco is officially the three seed in the WCC tournament. This game had no seeding implications for LMU, as Santa Clara won early today at Pepperdine.

The Lions will play Portland in the first round of the WCC tournament on Thursday. San Francisco will start on Saturday, and will play San Diego.