SANTA CLARA, Calif.- The University of Portland men’s basketball team had five players in double-figures, but shot just 25 percent from the field and was out-scored 47-33 in the second half as the No. 7 seeded Loyola Marymount Lions claimed an 82-77 victory in a first-round match-up at the WCC Tournament tonight. Portland ends its season with an 11-17 overall record, 5-9 in WCC play. LMU (15-13, 5-9 WCC) moves on to face No. 3 seed Pepperdine in a quarterfinal match-up on Sat. Mar. 6.

“Tonight’s game was a tale of two halves,” said Head Coach Michael Holton. “I thought it was a game that certainly was played with conference tournament intensity. The first half was played well by both teams. I thought we were in good shape, but in the second half, they (LMU) clearly took a step forward in terms of intensity on the defensive end, and attacking the glass on both ends of the floor. We didn’t respond and basically took a knockout punch. In the last eight minutes their intensity, their cohesiveness and their game plan wore us down and we struggled to get a quality shot. To sum it all up, we got our butts kicked tonight.”

Freshman Dreshawn Vance got the tip for the Pilots, but the Lions scored first on a floater in the lane by Sherman Gay. Pooh Jeter got things going for Portland with a 10-footer on the baseline with 18:35 left in the first half. At the 15-minute mark, some tenacious defense by Vance forced an LMU turnover, allowing Jeter to penetrate to the hole and pick up some contact along the way. Jeter converted both free throws, putting Portland up by two, 9-7. A Jason Dickens 10-footer tied the game at nine, but Casey Frandsen came off the bench to score Portland’s first trey of the game for a 12-11 Pilot lead.

The Pilots weren’t satisfied with a mere one-point lead and pressured LMU on defense, limiting them to very few second chance shots in the first half. On offense, Portland opened a six-point lead near the 10-minute mark, but a 7-2 run by the Lions cut the lead back to one. Senior Adam Quick responded, driving to the basket, pulling up for a 10-footer and was fouled by Wes Wardrop. Quick converted the three-point play and then Jeter hit his first trey of the night off a second chance opportunity with 6:23 left to go. Back-to-back baseline jumpers by Dustin Geddis gave Portland a 39-31 lead with 2:08 left on the clock. With just 11 ticks left, Geddis hit a long range three-pointer to give Portland their largest lead of the half, but a buzzer beating jumper by Sherman Gay cut the lead back to nine, as the Pilots held a 44-35 halftime advantage.

Wilson opened the second half scoring with a 10-footer to put Portland up by 11 points. The Pilots managed a double-digit lead for the first eight minutes of the second half, but a Charles Brown jumper with 12 minutes left narrowed Portland’s lead to eight points. Brown then converted a three-point play to start a 12-2 run. The Lions tied the game at 58-58 with just over 10 minutes to play on yet another scoring opportunity by Brown, this time on a made free-throw. The Pilots battled back and five-straight free-throws by Frandsen put UP back on top with just over five minutes to go. Gay was relentless and went on to score the next nine LMU points, giving the Lions a one-point advantage. Wes Wardrop then hit a three-pointer with just 1:03 left on the clock, but two made free-throws by Patrick Galos cut the LMU lead down to two. The Lions converted 6-of-7 freebies in the last 30 seconds of play to seal their fate and advance in the tournament. A three-pointer by Quick with three seconds left cut LMU’s lead to four, but wouldn’t factor in as the Lions went on to win, 82-77.

For the game, Jeter scored 19 points on 7-of-13 shooting from the field, while teammate Dustin Geddis went out on a good note with his fifth-straight double-figure scoring performance, finishing with 13 points. Frandsen ended his career with 12 points on the night and 1,162 points for his career (13th place on Portland’s all-time list). Galos added 11 points and went 7-of-8 from the stripe, while Wilson led Portland with eight rebounds in the game. Quick tacked on four more assists and ends his career in second-place on the all-time charts with 529 career dimes. The Pilots finished just 5-of-14 (36 percent) from long range, 23-of-56 (41 percent) from the floor and 26-of-31 (84 percent) from the free-throw line.

LMU out-scored Portland 36-8 off points in the paint and recorded 19 second-chance points, while also holding a 38-28 advantage on the boards in the game. Gay led all scorers with a game-high 30 points on 11-of-15 shooting from the field and 8-of-15 shooting from the charity stripe. Gay also grabbed 15 boards. Brown finished with 17 points and Wardrop added 13 points for LMU. The Lions went 29-of-53 (55 percent) from the floor, 3-of-10 (30 percent) from three-point range and 21-of-34 (62 percent) from the free-throw line.