Los Angeles, CA - Behind a raucous crowd, LMU defeated Pepperdine 93-82. LMU ran away with this one in the fourth quarter by playing patient, team ball. The leading scorers for the Lions were Alex Merkviladze with 21 points, Will Johnston with 19 points and Caleb Stone-Carrawell with 12 points. Pepperdine’s Moe Odum was impressive and finished with 26 points.
With the win, the Lions improved to 16-13 on the season.
In the first half, LMU was on the board early with a put back dunk by Jevon Porter. Odum had a crafty finish for Pepperdine as well. He was the impact player for Pepperdine. A hustle play by Rick Issanza resulted in a layup for Merkviladze. LMU season ticket holder, Dominic Gomez, said new assistant coach, “Lorenzo Romar is great. He instilled hustle, the team plays hard. There is a quantum difference in attitude which impacts and translates to better play.”
Coming out of a timeout, LMU ran a play for Jevon Porter. He was able to set his feet and drill a 3-pointer. LMU season ticket holder, Robert Koran, said, “Jevon’s brother is Michael Porter Jr. of the Denver Nuggets and two Pepperdine coaches came over to help LMU along with Devon Porter.”
Meanwhile, Odum had his fingerprints all over this game for Pepperdine. Despite trailing in the first half, LMU showed great patience on offense. After Johnston made a wide open 3-pointer to cut the lead to five points, the pace of the game started to pick up.
Later on in the half, LMU was able to take the lead from Pepperdine. Porter attacked the rim and slammed it home with authority. Followed up with Johnston going coast to coast for a layup off of a steal. However, Pepperdine didn’t go away quietly. Odum answered back with a 3-pointer of his own and was preaching to his teammates during the timeout. He was running the show for Pepperdine, the primary ball handler and recorded an assist at the first half buzzer. The score at the end of this competitive first half was 37-36, in favor of LMU.
Johnston knocked down a 3-pointer to start the second half for LMU. Aaron McBride was able to get on the board with a dunk. Koran was very impressed with McBride. He said, “He’s always hustling for loose balls and he’s a local boy from Corona Centennial High School.”
Later on in the second half, Merkviladze backed down his defender in the post and scored with a nice finish. Koran said, “That’s his game.” At the 12 minute mark, LMU was in a full court press. LMU extended its lead to 10 points with 10 minutes remaining. The exclamation point was Myron Amey Jr.’s 3-pointer with less than two minutes remaining. Ultimately, LMU was able to dribble out the clock for the win.
By Darryl Harvey, SMDP Intern
