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Saturday, February 26, 2011

Regular season play concludes tonight

Coming off of its second double-OT loss of the season, LMU will face a strong University of San Francisco team tonight to wrap up the regular season. The Lions are a disappointing 2-11 in conference play while the Dons, who were picked to finish in the bottom half of the league, are a surprising 9-4, just one game behind first-place teams Gonzaga and Saint Mary's.

The Lions and Dons met earlier this season in a game a Gersten Pavilion in which San Francisco won 61-60. Leading scorer Drew Viney sat out the majority of the second half of that game with migraines, after getting off to a hot start and scoring 11 first-half points on 4-7 from the field. The Lions played impressive defense in the game, holding San Francisco shooters to just 37 percent from the floor and 18 percent from long distance. LMU had a chance to win the game at the buzzer, but failed to do so. Freshman Ayodeji Egbeyemi led all Lions with 15 points.

LMU is coming off of another heartbreaking loss. The Lions, who eventually lost to Santa Clara by six points Thursday in double OT, struggled mightly from the free throw line, shooting just 64 percent as opposed to the Broncos 88 percent. Viney had his biggest offensive game of the season, pouring in 30 points in the loss.

The Lions are currently tied with the University of San Diego for the worst record in the WCC. The WCC Tournament begins in Las Vegas on Friday night, and all seeding for the tournament will be determined tonight at the conclusion of the four conference game's on the schedule for this evening. It is a foregone conclusion that LMU will be seeded either seventh or eighth, meaning that they will need to win four games in four days to win the tournament.

If LMU is able to earn the seventh seed, they will face rival Pepperdine for the third time this season in Las Vegas on Friday. The Lions beat Pepperdine at the WCC Tournament one year ago.

If LMU is seeded eighth for the tournament, it is still unclear who they would play. Both Santa Clara and Portland would be the option.

Tonight's game at San Francisco tips off at 7 p.m. I am in San Francisco and will be tweeting live from War Memorial Gymnasium. Check out live updates, beginning at 7 p.m., here.

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