West Coast First Round Recap

(7) Loyola Marymount 82, (6) Portland 77
After dropping both of its regular season meetings with Portland, Loyola Marymount turned the tables Friday night, bouncing the Pilots from the West Coast Conference Tournament. LMU (15-13, 6-9) overcame an 11-point, second-half deficit on its way to victory, and got a huge boost from junior forward Sherman Gay who registered 30 points and grabbed a career-high 15 rebounds in the win.

Portland (11-17, 5-10) held a two-point lead with 3:18 to go in regulation, but the Pilots finished the game on a 13-6 run, thus ending the Lions season. This decisive run secured LMU a second-round match-up with Pepperdine, and guaranteed the school its first winning season since 1996. As for Portland, Eugene Jeter and Dustin Geddis combined for 33 points in the loss.

(5) Santa Clara 82, (8) San Diego 48
The Broncos avenged an embarrassing regular season loss to the Toreros by racing out to a 44-23 halftime lead, and then piled it on further in the second frame for the 34-point win. J.R. Patrick led four Broncos in double-figures with 19 points, and Santa Clara (15-15, 7-8) did a number on the boards by out-rebounding San Diego 40-26.

The Toreros (4-26, 1-14) ended a season to forget by converting just 18 of 56 (32%) shots, while turning the ball over 16 times. San Diego guard Brad Lechtenberg was the team’s only bright spot as the senior poured in 20 points (6-12 from three-point range) in his final collegiate game.