Loyola Defeats Santa Clara on Yoest’s Foul Shots

Mike Yoest made two free throws with 49 seconds left to give Loyola Marymount its first and only lead in a 68-67 victory over Santa Clara Friday night in a West Coast Athletic Conference basketball opener.

Three players missed free throws after Yoest’s game-winning points--Santa Clara’s Brian Moody with 22 seconds left, Loyola’s Enoch Simmons with 15 seconds left and Yoest with 12 seconds left. Chris Lane missed a 15-foot shot for Santa Clara with four seconds remaining.

Yoest, a junior foward, led all scorers with 20 points. Mark Armstrong added 17 points, and Chris Nikchevich had 11 for the Lions (8-5).

Santa Clara (9-6) was led by Jens Gordon with 14 points and Lane with 10.

The Broncos led, 35-32, at halftime and scored the first 12 points of the second half to go up by 15.

Loyola rallied with a full-court press and tied the game at 51-51 with 10:22 to play.

Santa Clara again pulled out to leads of 59-53 with 9:01 left and 67-62 with 2:40 to play but failed to score again.

Loyola will be at USF tonight, while Santa Clara will play host to Pepperdine.