Lion Rewind: A look back at last season

Rewind

Looking back at 2006-2007

As Expected: The Lions started the season on a high-note living up to their preseason No. 14 ranking among Division I “mid-major programs.” Wins over Oral Roberts, New Mexico St., Gonzaga and Santa Clara were good wins for the Lions.



However, the season would be a roller coaster ride as the team showed inconsistency throughout the course of the year.

Unexpected: Injuries to both top scorers right after the other. Brandon Worthy went down with a knee injury that would sideline him for the season. Matthew Knight went down multiple times during the season, both at crucial junctures, although he did return to the lineup both times.

Losses to the WCC bottom feeders in Portland and Pepperdine. Both teams finished 4-10 in WCC play, with half of their wins coming against LMU.

Top Moments: Most of last year’s top moments in some way or another have to do with Brandon Worthy. The first top moment of the 2006-2007 season came in the LMU home opener against Oral Roberts University. LMU roared back to complete a second half comeback behind Knight’s 23 points and Worthy’s 19, winning the game 68-65. What made the victory even sweeter was seeing Oral Roberts knock off No. 3 Kansas that following week, 78-71.


Another Worthy moment, and yet another comeback. While most of the LMU community was asleep, LMU faced off against the University of Pacific in the Carrs/Safeway Great Alaska Shootout. Worthy led the charge back with buzzer beaters at the end of regulation and the first overtime. Worthy finished with 32 points and LMU came out with an 88-85 victory in double overtime.

Homecoming 2006. A “Worthy Knight” indeed. Students dawned shirts with the phrase on them while entering their seats, but had no idea what they were about to witness. Another LMU comeback and another Worthy moment. Worthy’s off-balanced three with less than one second remaining lifted Lions to 71-69 come-from-behind victory over New Mexico State in front of 3,570 at Gersten Pavilion. Worthy led the Lions with 28 points as LMU erased a 17-point second half deficit for the win. The shot was ESPN’s Sportscenter’s top play for the night and the LMU student body rushed the court in the madness. The play has also had over 100,000 YouTube hits.




“Brandon is flat-out a warrior who wants nothing else but wins. He wants the ball at the end of the game and his teammates know to get it to him,” said Coach Rodney Tention.

The final top moment of last season needs no special introduction. All who were there remember that Monday night in February, when the Gonzaga Bulldogs, well on their way to a birth in the NCAA tournament, came into Gersten Pavilion. The Lions were without star guard, Brandon Worthy, but the LMU faithful never lost hope, for they knew they had Adoyah Miller. The game was back and forth, with neither team able to pull away to a substantial lead. Miller led the Lions with 21 points, shooting 3 of 4 from behind the arc. In a game that featured 17 lead changes and 12 ties, the Lions took the lead for good on a pair of free throws by Miller with 3:01 remaining and held on with clutch work at the charity stripe to send the crowd of 3,815 on to the floor at Gersten Pavilion Monday night.

Stepped Up: Adoyah Miller. The senior guard averaged around seven points per game for his LMU career. However, after Worthy was injured, Miller stepped to finish with a season average of 11.7 points per game and 13.9 points per game in WCC play.

Coach’s Quote: “Disappointing obviously losing our last game,” Head Coach Rodney Tention said, “But from start to end finishing 5-4. That was promising for us, that was good to see. We showed we were able to battle through some adversity and we had a lot of adversity in losing a player of Brandon’s [Worthy] caliber and then losing Matty [Knight] right after that for a while. Obviously not pleased because we had high aspirations but I’ll give the guys a lot of credit, they worked hard every day. We beat Gonzaga when they were at full strength, we swept Santa Clara, so I was glad for those guys and it was a sign that we were able to get some things done.”