Season ends with loss at Utah State

Drew Viney's LMU career came to an end tonight in the loss.

The Lions attempted a comeback late in the second half, cutting a 16-point deficit to four with just about three minutes to play, but they could get no closer, falling 77-69. A tremendous season comes to an end with 21 wins, the most since the 1989-90 season.

The Lions say goodbye to seniors Drew Viney, LaRon Armstead and Tim Diederichs. Viney had a tough game, beginning it 0-5 from the field and never quite finding his stroke, finishing with just nine points and shooting just 3-11 from the field.

AI didn't have his outside shooting touch either, but found his way to the rim during LMU's attempted comeback to finish the game with a team-high 23 points.

The loss is a disappointing one, because like the WCC Tournament loss to San Francisco in Vegas, it was definitely a winnable game the Lions, who were sloppy with the ball and struggled to find its rhythm on offense. LMU turned the ball over 19 times, and shot just 41 percent from the field and 50 percent from the free throw line.

Ireland's double-double gives Lions OT win

LMU put together a nice victory tonight, holding on to defeat Weber State in overtime to advance to the Collegeinsider.com Tournament quarterfinals. The Lions were led by their leader, sophomore point guard Anthony Ireland, who finished the game with 20 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds. The Lions' other All-Conference player, Drew Viney, also showed up, scoring a team-high 23 points while pulling in six boards.

The Lions withstood the attack of Damian Lillard, who finished the regular season as the nation's second leading scorer. Lillard's three-pointer late in the second half forced the game into overtime, but despite his game-high 27 points the Lions were able to pull out the victory and improve its season record to 21-12.

LMU had five players score in double figures.

With the win, the Lions advance into a Wednesday showdown with Utah State (19-15), who easily defeated Idaho yesterday. This will be the Lions' first road game in the CIT, and the contest will tip off at 6 p.m. PT.

Lions top Titans in CIT opener

The Lions defeated the Cal State Fullerton Titans tonight, riding a strong offensive game to a 88-79 victory. Want to know the best things about winning the game?

1. Seniors like LaRon Armstead don't have to hang up their LMU jerseys quite yet. LaRon is a class act, and the longer this season continues the longer his career continues, and he deserves it. It was great to see him have a strong game, as he finished with 16 points and five rebounds. Drew Viney also showed up big, scoring 19 points and pulling down eight boards. Drew can be inconsistent, but boy are we going to miss him next season.

2. With the win, LMU was able to secure its first playoff victory since 1990, and complete a 20-win season. While all fans know there was some disappointment towards the end of the year, those are both solid accomplishments.

3. Fans got to be reminded that Anthony Ireland is a stud. Coming off of a groin injury, Ireland had a team-high 26 points to go along with five rebounds and four assists. There's not much to say except, thank god he's only a sophomore.

With the win, the Lions (20-12) will now host Weber State* (25-6) in second-round action Sunday at 3 p.m. Weber State is coming off of an 72-69 victory over Utah Valley Tuesday night.

*Originally noted that LMU would host Idaho, who beat UCSB tonight. That was announced in Gersten Pavilion after the game, but turns out that was incorrect.

LMU to host Fullerton Wednesday

As expected, the Lions were left out of the NIT today, but did accept an invitation to play in the CollegeInsider.com Tournament for the second time in three years. LMU's first game of the tournament will be Wednesday, when they host Cal State Fullerton. The tournament matches up teams by region, not seeding.

Fullerton finished its season 21-9, with a 12-4 mark in the Big West. The Titans will travel to Gersten Pavilion for a 7 p.m. game Wednesday, which can be seen live here. Fullerton is led by D.J. Seeley and Kwame Vaughn, who is very familiar to the WCC. Vaughn played two season with USF, after originally committing to LMU and then-Head Coach Rodney Tention out of high school.

For a full list of the 32 teams in the CIT and the matchups, click here. The only other team of note for Lions fans is UCSB, who is led by former Lion Orlando Johnson, who also left LMU after the Rodney Tention coaching change. Johnson, despite playing just three years at UCSB, is the Gauchos all-time leading scorer. I'm sure an LMU/UCSB matchup would be a lot of fun to watch, but clearly LMU has to take this thing one game at a time.

In other WCC news, the conference got three teams into the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2008, as Saint Mary's, Gonzaga and BYU are all in. BYU plays first, with a game against Iona on Wednesday.

Lions likely headed to CIT

We're less than five hours away from Selection Sunday, and while the Lions won't be participating in the Big Dance, it does seem likely that LMU fans should get ready to return to Gersten Pavilion this week for a likely CollegeInsider.com Tournament game. Barring an absolute miracle NIT bid, which would probably only happen if BYU got into the NCAA Tournament, and would still then be a longshot, it seems that the Lions have accepted a spot in the CIT. They will likely host a game Wednesday.

Last year, the WCC's own Santa Clara won the CIT, which also featured San Francisco.

The Lions last appeared in the CIT two seasons ago, when they lost 86-76 to Pacific in Gersten Pavilion. Drew Viney had 17 points in that game.

Everything will be shaken out tonight, starting with the NCAA Tournament selection show at 3 p.m. on CBS.