Loyola Marymount Lions beat Saint Louis Billikens 75-68: NCAA Basketball Recap
Tuesday was not a pleasant night for teams playing on away courts.
Earlier, the mighty Duke Blue Devils received a thrashing from Ohio State Buckeyes and just few minutes ago, Saint Louis Billikens, who had an unbeaten tournament so far were handed their first defeat by Loyola Marymount Lions
75-68, in an exciting game played at the Albert Gersten Pavilion.
In what was a thoroughly clinical performance, all the Lions played their part to perfection.
LaRon Armstead was superb on the night. He led the Lions with 22 points on a perfect 10 for 10 from the charity stripe. Anthony Ireland racked up17 while Jarred DuBois added another 16. Their coach, Max Good was satisfied with
team’s performance and said he was confident throughout the game, his players will pull it off.
"When we had Anthony and Jarred in the game late I felt very confident. Defensively we were very good. What we convinced our guys we've got to do is play through everything. We just keep grinding."
On the other hand, his counterpart, Rick Majerus aghast and highlighting the reasons for loss, he added
"We weren't as focused. There was a subliminal complacency by our team."
And he had a point, as Saint missed few crucial opportunities throughout the game.
Cody Ellis (18) including 4 for 6 from the downtown was the highest scorer from losing side while Brian Conklin and Kwamain Mitchell pounded 13 each.
Both teams started the game poorly and displayed erratic shooting for first few minutes. Billikens then changed their strategy and switched to long range shooting, which helped them immensely, as they managed to bolt an unanswered
16-3 blitz led by Ellis, who netted two of his four three’s in the run, to get in front 28-16.
However, Lions were up to the task and reeled off a 10-0 run, led by Armstead, almost immediately to get themselves back in the game. A flying jumper by Jordair Jett’s in the dying seconds then made it 30-26 in the favor of Billikens.
The second half was intense as both teams fought hard to take control of the game. Both were neck to neck, with Billikens only leading by 1 point 52-51, before Dubois scored 7 crucial points to change the momentum in the favour
of Lions, who raced to a 58-52 lead.
Those points proved decisive in the end as Billikens never managed to eliminate the lead.
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