SAN ANTONIO, Texas – Redshirt freshman forward Christian Peevy scored a career-high 20 points on 6-of-8 shooting and 8-of-9 from the charity stripe, but visiting Loyola Marymount took its first lead of the game with under five minutes to play in regulation and never looked back in the Lions' 91-87 win over the Cardinals Wednesday evening from the McDermott Center.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
 
UIW (3-1) stormed out of the gate, shooting 63 percent (17-for-27) from the floor in the first half, including 3-for-7 (43 percent) from beyond the arc. The Cardinals scored the game's first five points, on a jumper by Charles Brown III and a three-pointer from Shawn Johnson, but LMU (3-1) scored five unanswered to knot the game at 5-all early in the contest.
 
UIW scored four straight points midway in the first half to take its largest lead of the game at that point, 23-14, following a Johnson layup. After LMU's Jason Batemon missed a trey, the Cardinals ran the floor, as Brown III hit a fast-break layup, forcing the Lions to call a timeout down 25-15.
 
The Lions scored seven unanswered to cut the deficit to three, 25-22, but Jalin Hart answered with a layup, followed by a block by Johnson and the Cardinals found themselves back up by double digits, 35-25, with 6:19 remaining in the opening half.
 
LMU battled back to cut the deficit to six, 39-33, following an offensive rebound and put-back by Eli Scott, but UIW had an answer, as it did for most of the first half, as the Cardinals outscored LMU, 7-1, in a three-minute span to take their largest lead of the game, 46-34. LMU found itself down by only five at halftime, 46-41, as the Lions scored seven points in 42 seconds.
 
Similar to the first half, LMU came within a score early in the second half – 49-47 – but UIW answered and pushed its lead back up to six, 55-49, following a layup by Peevy.
 
UIW remained in control until the 6:09-mark, as Brown III went down in the back court with an injury and had to be assisted to the bench with the Cardinals leading by four, 74-70.
 
With the Cardinals' leading scorer out, the Lions took control, outscoring UIW, 8-2, to not only take their first lead of the game at the 4:55-mark, but lead by seven, 83-76, with 1:35 to go in regulation.
 
UIW continued to battle, eventually bringing the score to a one-possession game, 85-83, following a pair of free throws by Simi Socks with 24 seconds remaining, but LMU went 6-for-6 from the line in the final seconds to secure the win.
 
LEADERS

Peevy scored a career-high 20 points, to go along with three rebounds, two assists, one block, and one steal in 20 minutes. Johnson also had a strong stat line: 18 points, nine rebounds, three assists, two blocks, and two steals in 37 minutes. Hart registered 13 points, five assists, seven rebounds, and a steal, and Socks also finished in double figures with 11 points.
 
Batemon led all scorers with 26 points, including 12-for-12 from the charity stripe. Scott earned a double-double of 19 points and 12 rebounds, while Zafir Williams came off the bench to score 10. As a team, the much bigger Lions out-rebounded UIW, 43-23.
 
QUOTES

Head coach Ken Burmeister on the game:
"We gave up a 10-point lead late to five. There was a period of time where we didn't stop their dribble penetration. They got some easy layups and dunks which turned the game around. The biggest was we gave up too many offensive rebounds. They have 20 offensive rebounds and they get that many more shots."
 
On the tempo of the game:
"Both teams played with a lot of energy and effort. We missed a couple of inopportune free throws. We caused some turnovers, but we didn't take advantage of it."
 
On Johnson being shut down in the second half:
"I don't think they did anything differently. The shots that he normally makes didn't go down; went in and out."
 
On the free throw attempts at the end of the game:
"When you miss the front-end of a 1-and-1, that's a turnover. We had to come away with something. There were a couple of times where we missed the front end of a 1-and-1 and there's four points; that's the difference in the game. Division I is a 40-minute game; we beat them for 36.
 
Senior guard Shawn Johnson on the game overall:
"We fought hard. They missed two free throws out of, like, nine; we missed five out of, like, 10, so at the end at home, you can't miss free throws. It's on us. We missed free throws, we missed easy layups. We lost that game. It was simple mistakes that lost us the game. It's a learning experience. We'll bounce back."
 
Feeling on the bench when Charles Brown III went down with injury:
"I think it affected us because we knew we lost a big part of our team. We know we're always going to have someone who gets hurt or fouled out, so we have to capitalize on that. We didn't."
 
UP NEXT

UIW hits the road for the first time this season, when the Cardinals head east on I-10 to face Houston on Saturday, Nov. 25 at 7 p.m.

STAY TUNED

The Cardinals close the road swing next Wednesday, Nov. 29 at No. 17 Gonzaga. First tip is scheduled for 8 p.m. CT and will be televised live on AT&T Sportsnet Southwest Plus.

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