Disappointing news breaks after great win

I wasn't able to post after last night's exhilartating win, but to say it was a great moment would be an understatement. One of Head Coach Max Good's comments from the press conference sums it up: "I think everybody who played in the game made a major contribution," he said.

The win was trully a team win. Drew Viney led the offense with 25 points, but didn't score in the final ten minutes of the game. Larry Davis played spotty minutes, but came up huge to close out the game with the Lions final four points. Ashley Hamilton pulled down an offensive rebound with 25 seconds to play that may have been the play of the game. And Vernon Teel played one of his best games of the season, finishing with 13 points, five rebounds, five assits and just two turnovers.

But breaking news this morning dampens the celebratory feeling. According to The Los Angeles Loyolan, Teel has been kicked off the team due to conduct detrimental to the team. His NCAA Division-I basketball career is over. You can read the full Loyolan story here.

As someone who hasn't heard much more than is in that story, here are some facts from the past 15 or so hours.

• Vernon didn't start yesterday's game, but did play 26 minutes. He started 23 of the team's 30 games this season.
• With the game tied down the stretch, Vernon was pulled with about two minutes remaining.
• After the game, a tweet coming from Vernon Teel's twitter account referenced "being hot" and upset with Asst. Coach Levy. His twitter account has since been deactivated.

I am in no way stating that these three factors had anything to do with Teel's dismissal, just sharing the facts. Vernon's attitude during the game last night seemed positive as always. Despite not starting, Vernon was coaching freshman point guard Anthony Ireland from the bench early in the game. Even when being pulled late his demeanor still seemed positive/excited as the Lions pulled out the victory.

Good released the following statement to ESPN. ""This was an internal decision that we felt was best for our team and our program," Loyola Marymount coach Max Good said in a statement. "This was strictly based on internal issues and was not attributed to behavior in or around the WCC tournament."

The Lions play their second-round game today against Santa Clara at 6 p.m. Vernon Teel's absence will negatively affect the Lions on the court, as he was definitely a positive factor yesterday, but they can win without him, especially with Larry Davis back in the lineup. I will live chat beginning at 5:45 p.m. with live game news and Vernon Teel updates as they come.