Men's basketball wraps up road trip on high note

The LMU Lion's men's basketball team put together their most complete effort of the season over the weekend, defeating Mercer, 97-92, in overtime in Macon, Ga on Saturday.

The Lions (2-4) snapped a five game road skid defeating Mercer, the team that has handed then no. 18 ranked and now no. 24 ranked USC (5-1) their only loss of the season. Mercer falls to 1-4 after the loss.

Marko Deric put the Lions up 93-91 on 3-pointer with 30 seconds to play, and the Lions never looked back. Deric was one of four players in double figures for the Lions with 14, going 5-for-10 from the field, including 2-for-3 from long range. The Lions were led by freshman Orlando Johnson with 21 points on 8-for-14 shooting while adding a team-high nine rebounds. Joining them in double figures was Jon Ziri and Quentin Turner with 15 points each.



LMU had their best first half of basketball this season as they jumped out to a lead as large as 16, 45-29 with 2:35 remaining on one of three Walker three-pointers. However, Mercer closed the half on a 12-2 run, eight of the 12 coming from the free throw line, to make it a six-point game at the break.

With the game tied at 73, Brandon Walker hit back-to-back three-pointers and the Lions took a six-point lead at 81-75 with 1:22 remaining. Mercer would close the game with the final six points, including a pair of free throws by Hall with 35 seconds remaining to send the game to overtime.

LMU, who finishes a four-game trip away from home, returns to Gersten Pavilion for homecoming week as they face San Diego State on Wednesday, Nov. 28 at 7:05 p.m. and then UC Santa Barbara for Homecoming on Saturday, Dec. 1 at 7:05 p.m. on CSTV. Both games can be heard live on KXLU 88.9 FM and online at LMULions.com.