LOS ANGELES, CA ‘ Keith Kincade scored 18 points, and Chris Ayer had 13 points and 14 rebounds, to lead Loyola Marymount to a 78-54 non-conference win over ¸Ô±¾ÊÓƵ Friday at the Gersten Pavilion.'xml:namespace prefix = o ns = 'urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office' />
¸Ô±¾ÊÓƵ (6-5) split its two-game road trip to California, while the Lions improved to 8-4, their best non-conference mark in eight seasons.
Also in double figures for LMU were Sherman Gay with 16 points and Charles Brown with 14. Howard Blue led ¸Ô±¾ÊÓƵ with 19 points, while Andrew Zidar tallied 11 and grabbed eight rebounds.
The Raiders had a poor shooting night making only 31 percent of their field goal attempts, and shooting only 52 percent from the line. ¸Ô±¾ÊÓƵ was leading the Patriot League in foul shooting percentage but made only 15-of-28 attempts.
¸Ô±¾ÊÓƵ held an early 6-4 lead before the Lions tallied eight straight points for a six-point advantage. The Raiders came back to trail by one point on Alvin Reed’s 3-pointer and a pair of free throws by Blue.
LMU immediately took control of the game with a 15-2 run as they moved out to a 14-point lead, 27-13. They led 36-20 at halftime.
In the second half, ¸Ô±¾ÊÓƵ scored the first four points on baskets by Zidar and Blue to cut the deficit to three points, but the Lions roared back with nine straight points to a 12-point lead, 45-33.
GAME NOTES: This was the first meeting ever between these two schools. Loyola Marymount will visit ¸Ô±¾ÊÓƵ next season ‘ senior Mark Linebaugh, ¸Ô±¾ÊÓƵ’s second leading scorer, was held to no points for only the second time in his outstanding career. He had no points against Arizona State in his second collegiate game ‘ Linebaugh had two rebounds to reach 300 in his career ‘ Keith Williams, battling back from a serious knee injury, had his first two points of the season ‘ Josh Humphrey equaled his career high for assists with three and Zidar had a career-high three steals.