San Francisco Dons Easily Handle Loyola Marymount

Loyola Marymount was unable to contain the impressive offensive display put on by San Francisco on Thursday night, as the Dons picked up a victory over the Lions by a final score of 72-45.

Feb 7, 2015; San Francisco, CA, USA; San Francisco Dons center Mark Tollefsen (23) celebrates after scoring the final two points of the first half to tie the game with Gonzaga Bulldogs at War Memorial Gymnasium. Mandatory Credit: Bob Stanton-USA TODAY Sports

Forward Mark Tollefsen led the way for USF, as he got a double-double with 21 points and 10 rebounds. He shot a resounding 9-16 on the night and was on the court for a large majority of the matchup. Three other Dons scored in double figures, with Tim Derksen putting up 19, Kruize Pinkins adding 12, and Devin Watson notching 11. This is San Francisco’s second conference victory in a row.

Loyola Marymount, on the other hand, is now riding a four game losing streak in the WCC. After picking up their first consecutive wins in the West Coast Conference against Pacific and San Diego, the Lions have been faced with their most difficult stretch of conference play so far, with two of those four losses coming at the hands of BYU and Gonzaga.

Godwin Okonji was the only player for LMU to score in double figures, picking up 22 points to go along with five rebounds. Aside from that, the Lions saw extremely poor shooting performances from the remainder of their squad. Matt Hayes added nine points and Marin Mornar tacked on eight – no other player in the lineup scored more than three points.

More from West Coast Convo

LMU shot 29.8% from the field, 16.7% from three point land, and 71.4% from the free throw line, thanks largely to Okonji’s 10-12 outing from the charity stripe. Needless to say, it was a night to forget for the Lions. Embarrassing statistics, failure to get stops on the defensive end, and reliance on one player for almost half of your points is a frightening sight as conference play inches closer to an end.

In Loyola Marymount’s nail-biting loss to Portland last week, we saw a much more balanced and energetic effort. It was a tough loss to swallow but it was at least a hard-fought game. This disappointing matchup seems to be a big step back for the Lions. Mike Dunlap is going to need to give some pretty inspirational speeches and animated lectures to his team if he wants to turn things around by the WCC Tournament. Otherwise, Loyola Marymount’s going to find themselves fresh out of luck in Sin City.

The Lions will look to respond when they take on Santa Clara on Saturday night at 6:00 pm ET. San Francisco is looking to keep this win streak going as they take the trip down to Malibu to face up against Pepperdine on Saturday at 10:00 pm ET.

Home/LMU