WCC teams victim of transfers

Anthony Ireland fights for a loose ball with San Francisco's Perris Blackwell, who is expected to leave the USF program.

Both San Francisco and Portland took blows today, losing key players who have decided to transfer away from their respective programs. The Dons took the biggest hit, as their second-leading scorer Perris Blackwell will be leaving the program.

According to ESPN, Blackwell, who averaged 12.7 points and 6.1 rebounds this season, has been granted his release by the University. 

Then, sophomore Tim Douglas of the Pilots, also announced his transfer. He averaged 8.5 points per game this season.

LMU to face San Francisco or Portland Friday

The first game of the men's bracket has wrapped up, and Portland was able to hold off a winless Santa Clara team 74-70 to advance into Thursday's game against San Francisco. The Pilots shot an impressive 56.8 percent and were led by Ryan Nicholas (pictured) who had 24 points. Portland and San Francisco will face off at 6 p.m. Thursday, followed by San Diego and Pepperdine at 8 p.m.

LMU will face the winner of the 6 p.m. game on Friday at 6 p.m.

The loss ends an awful season for Santa Clara, whose off-the-court troubles led to a 0-16 regular conference season. Before the season even began, Santa Clara lost big man Marc Trasolini to injury, a huge blow to the team's offense. Then, a couple of games into the WCC season, Kevin Foster, one of the best scorers in the league, was arrested for apparent drunk driving, and was therefore suspended by the team for the remainder of the season. Props to need to be given to the team that remained, however, as despite not winning a game, the Broncos did not roll over, and played a number of close games against some of the league's best teams.

LMU heads North to take on Portland

Winners of five of their last six games, the Lions will head to Portland tomorrow to take on the Pilots for the second time in two weeks. The last time the two teams met, LMU guard Jarred DuBois knocked down what would turn out to be the game-winning three with 17 seconds left on the clock. He had 18 in the game.

The Pilots have gone 1-1 since then, beating Santa Clara but losing to BYU.

The Lions shot 41 percent in the two team's first matchup, but only 21 percent from beyond the arc. Their defense saved them, however, holding Portland to just 2-13 from deep. While the Lions shouldn't expect Portland to go cold from deep again, the Pilots also shouldn't expect Drew Viney to go just 3-9 from the field.

It's an important night in the WCC race, as Gonzaga will be facing off against Saint Mary's at the same time. An LMU victory and a Gonzaga loss would put the Lions half a game above the Bulldogs in the standings before Saturday's battle in Spokane.

LMU's game at Portland tips off at 8 p.m., and can be heard on KXLU 88.9 FM. The game will be shown on delay on Fox Sports Prime Ticket at 10:30 p.m.

DuBois comes up big, Lions hold on against Portland

Jarred DuBois drained a three-pointer with 17 seconds left on the clock to break a 59-59 tie and give LMU the lead for good last night, en route to a 62-59 victory. The Lions are now 6-3 in West Coast Conference play and sit in a tie for third place with BYU.

It was the third game in six days for the Lions last night and it showed, as the team shot just 41 percent from the field and were just 4-19 from three-point land. DuBois had three of those four threes, and none more timely than the game-winner. The redshirt junior guard led the way for LMU with a season-high 18 points. Portland had a shot to tie the game with the ball and 17 seconds on the clock, but tough defense by the Lions forced the Pilots to not even get off a shot-attempt.

The Lions received off-nights offensively from Drew Viney, who was just 3-9 from the floor and finished with 14 points, and Anthony Ireland, who was 3-8 with six points and just two assists. The Lions had just seven assists as a team. However, the Lions buckled down on defense when it mattered, holding the Pilots without a field goal for the last 2:59 of play.

LMU will now get a couple days of rest before it hosts rival Pepperdine Thursday at 7:30 p.m. The game will be broadcast on Fox Sports Prime Ticket.

LMU hosts Portland tonight

The Lions are 5-3 in conference play, with losses to only the top-three teams in the WCC. The team hopes to keep it that way tonight, when they host the 2-6 Portland Pilots. Last year, the Pilots won both regular season match-ups against the Lions before LMU shocked Portland in Vegas, eliminating them from the WCC Tournament. The Pilots enter Gersten having lost five straight games.

Portland is led by sophomore forward Ryan Nicholas, who is leading the team with 11.3 points and 7.7 rebounds per game. The Pilots are coming off of a 12-point loss to Gonzaga, a game that was much closer than the score shows.

The Lions need a win to keep a firm hold on the fourth spot in the WCC standings, with San Francisco only 1.5 games behind. While the LMU/Portland game (7 p.m. start) is important for the Lions and their fans, it is clearly not the cream of the crop when it comes to WCC match-ups tonight, as undefeated Saint Mary's is traveling to BYU in what should be a great showdown. That game tips off at 6 p.m. on ESPNU. The LMU game can be seen live on Fox Sports West.

Lions hope to make surprising WCC Tournament run

The Lions left for Las Vegas this morning, and in about 31 hours will be taking the court at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas to kick-off the men's portion of the West Coast Conference Tournament. The Lions have gone 2-2 on that court since the WCC Tournament moved there two seasons ago.

This season was, as many Lions fans know, a huge disappointment. Expected to finish in the top-three of the conference, LMU instead went just 2-12 in WCC play and will enter the tournament as the eighth, and last, seed. To make matters worse, they will face an unlikely draw of Portland - Santa Clara - Saint Mary's if they wish to get to the WCC Tournament finals. Portland and Saint Mary's have been the two toughest teams for the Lions to match-up against, as they have deadly three-point shooters.

But first up for LMU is the Portland Pilots, who have beaten the Lions twice this season. The first time the two teams matched up, LMU forced the Pilots into double-OT, before falling 79-78. Drew Viney came up huge for the Lions in that game, contributing 24 points.

In that initial game, the Lions did a nice job defending the three against a Pilots team that is one of the best long-range shooting teams in the nation. Portland went just 7-22 from three in the game. The Lions interior defense, however, left a little to be desired, as they allowed WCC All-Conference player Luke Sikma to score 24 points, the majority of which came in the paint.

The second meeting between the two teams was a game the Lions would like to forget, as they fell 71-48 in what many feel was the Lions' worst game of the season. Playing without leading scorer Drew Viney, LMU struggled to score. Freshman Anthony Ireland and senior Larry Davis were the only two Lions to score in double figures, with 10 and 11 points respectively.

LMU's three-point defense was again stellar, holding the Pilots to just four threes, but was outscored in the paint 32-16.

Facing the Pilots tomorrow, LMU is going to have to find a way to shutdown Sikma, who has topped 20 points in both meetings against the Lions this season. A combination of Drew Viney, Ashley Hamilton, and Tim Diederichs should get the nod against Sikma, and are going to have to do their best to stay out of foul trouble, something that has been difficult for Hamilton all season long. 

Another key for the Lions is going to be to continue shutting down the Pilot's long-range shooters, Jared Stohl and Nemanja Mitrovic, who had all four of the Pilot's threes in the two teams last meeting. LMU again did a good job in the majority of the team's last game against San Francisco in defending the three, before giving up two to lose the game in the closing minutes. Defensive rotations, and not leaving Mitrovic or Stohl open for a three, will be key.

On the offensive end, the Lions need to play better team ball. Moving the ball around more and playing less one-on-one isolation is extremely important to LMU's offensive success.

The game tips off tomorrow night at 6 p.m., and can be seen live on ESPN3.com and byutv.com. You can also keep it here for a live chat from press row.

Thursday night WCC shakeup

Santa Clara students rush the court after the Broncos upset Gonzaga | Courtesy of Twitter

The Lions didn't play Thursday but the WCC had a wild night as two of the top three teams were shocked by upsets. The Santa Clara Broncos highlighted the night, beating Gonzaga 85-71 in Santa Clara for the first time in ten years. Gonzaga had entered the game 3-0 in conference play, while Santa Clara had been 1-2.

Santa Clara students rushed the court after the double-digit victory, much like Lions fans did last season. Gonzaga, however, is currently unranked, despite being 13-5 on the season. The Broncos' Kevin Foster had an unbelievable game, scoring 36 points in the win.

An hour later, the San Francisco Dons secured a home victory against Portland.

The WCC standings are now as follow, with Saint Mary's holding down the first place spot as the only undefeated team:

               Saint Mary's          5-0
               Gonzaga               3-1
               San Francisco       3-1
               Portland                 2-2
               Santa Clara           2-2
               LMU                      1-3
               Pepperdine           1-3
               San Diego             0-5

While it is still early in the conference season, it is worth noting that six of the eight teams in the league are separated by only two games.

The Lions will play Pepperdine Saturday night in Malibu.

Video Clip: Drew Viney clutch three

My video clip from last night's game featured on ESPN2.



Junior Drew Viney knocks down a clutch three with six seconds to play to give LMU the lead against Portland on 1/14/11. Portland would hit two free throws to send the game into OT, and eventually win in double OT.

Talk about a heart-breaker, Lions fall to Pilots in double OT

Drew Viney had 24 points in the loss | Courtesy of Facebook

The Lions lost a heart-breaker in Portland tonight, falling to the Pilots 79-78 in double OT. LMU finished regulation on a 9-2 run to force OT, but poor free throw shooting and a questionable foul call cost the Lions the game in the end. The Lions fall to 1-2 in WCC play while the Pilots improve to 1-1.

Junior Drew Viney, who had been seemingly absent for LMU for two and a half games, turned things around in the second half tonight, knocking down two huge three-pointers to keep the Lions in the game and scoring 20 of his 24 points. With his team down by one with five seconds to play, Viney received the ball out of a timeout and burried a three from the corner to give LMU a 60-58 lead. The entire LMU team, however, failed to get back on defense, and redshirt freshman Edgar Garibay fouled Portland's Jared Stohl with two seconds to play. He knocked down both free throws to send the game into overtime.

In overtime, freshman Anthony Ireland made his presence known, scoring five points in the first overtime period including burying a deep three. Garibay had a chance to help the Lions take the lead late in OT, stepping to the free throw line with his team down by one and 20 seconds on the clock. After missing the first one, Garibay tied the game at 66 on the second, and LMU played solid defense for the final 19 seconds, sending the game into its second overtime period.

After the two teams exchanged baskets to start double OT, senior Vernon Teel had a mental lapse, earning himself a technical foul and giving the Pilots two shots and the ball, after missing two of two free throws himself. Teel had been a perfect 6-6 from the charity stripe prior to the technical.

It was the Lions second technical of the game, as Head Coach Max Good had been called for one late in regulation. It led to two Portland points.

Settling back in, the Lions found themselves down by four with 23 seconds to play, after Tim Douglas from Portland failed to extend his team's lead to five by making just one of two free throws. Again Viney showed up in the clutch, trailing Teel down the court and receiving the pass and shooting a long three in rhythm. He banked it in to bring the score to 76-75 in favor of the home team.

After another splits at the free throw line from Douglas, Viney attempted a three from the corner with ten seconds to play, but the ball went in and out. Teel was then called for his fifth foul of the game, on an extremely questionable call, and Stohl iced the game with two free throws with five seconds to play.

Ireland knocked down a three at the buzzer, but it was too little too late.

For Viney, it was his best game in weeks, as he paced all players with 24 points. Teel had the worst shooting night of his career, going 0-10 from the field, but did pull down a game high 11 rebounds and dish out a game high five assists. Ireland contributed 15 points.

The game marked the return for Ashley Hamilton, who had missed four weeks after breaking his hand. He had five points, nine rebounds and four steals.

The Lions weekend doesn't get any easier, as they will travel to Spokane, Wash. and take on powerhouse Gonzaga on Saturday. Gonzaga is 2-0 in conference play after a win over Pepperdine tonight. The game tips off early at 5 p.m.

Keys to tonight's game

Let's keep this concise. The Lions can win tonight's game. If they do, I would consider it an upset, but it is certainly possible. For the upset to happen, most, if not all, of the following must happen:

1. Drew Viney must reestablish himself. He has had back-to-back un-Drew like games, and the Lions need him to be the Drew that Lions fans know and love. He needs to turn the ball over less, and score the basketball.
2. Ashley Hamilton, if he returns to the lineup, will need to make his presence known. Both Godwin Okonji and Edgar Garibay are not scorers in the post by nature, so Hamilton needs to take on that role.
3. The Lions need to limit the Pilots' three-point shooting. They are the best three-point shooting team in the nation, and I hope that Max Good and his coaching staff came up with some defensive scheme this week to limit those opportunities.

Tonight's game can be seen live on ESPN2 at 8 p.m.

Lions vs. Pilots: Key will be stopping Stohl

Ashley Hamilton is expected to return for tomorrow's game | Courtesy of Facebook

LMU will head out on a three-game conference road-trip tomorrow, starting with the University of Portland Pilots. The Pilots are 12-4 on the season and 0-1 in WCC play after dropping their season opener on the road to Gonzaga on Saturday.

The Pilots are led by senior guard Jared Stohl, who is averaging 13.1 points per game. Stohl is also shooting 45 percent from beyond the arc, and an astonishing 71 percent of his shot attempts come from three-point land. The Pilots are the best three-point shooting team in the nation, settling in at about 45 percent.

In addition to Stohl, both Luke Sikma and Nemanja Mitrovic are also averaging double figures in scoring.

The Pilots put together the third-best non-conference record in the WCC, collecting wins over teams like Santa Barbara, Montana, Boise State and Utah to name a few. Their four losses all came at the hands of impressive teams (Washington, Kentucky, Washington State and Gonzaga).

The Lions, who lost to Portland by 40-points last year on the road but were dealing with severe off the court circumstances, will be looking to win two straight against the Pilots after LMU earned revenge last season upsetting Portland in Gersten Pavilion. The Lions are now 1-1 in WCC play after a win over USD.

According to Diamond Leung of ESPN, redshirt sophomore Ashley Hamilton should be back and available for tomorrow's game, after breaking his wrist in the Lions game against Sacramento State.

The Lions game against Portland can be seen live on ESPN2 or heard on KXLU 88.9 FM. Tip-off is at 8 p.m.