Loyola Starts Slow, Falls to DePaul : College basketball: Lions shoot only 39% in turnover-plagued first half of 125-93 loss.

Loyola Marymount, struggling with DePaul’s full-court pressure, committed 16 first-half turnovers en route to a 125-93 loss to the Blue Demons Sunday night.

The Lions (7-5) shot only 39% in the first half and fell behind, 63-42.

Terrell Lowery, who finished with 31 points, scored the first five points of the second half to cut DePaul’s lead to 16 points, but Loyola could get no closer.

Said Loyola Coach Jay Hillock: “Two main deficiencies were our downfall--our inability to rebound and our inability to take care of the ball.

“We kept getting hurt with turnovers and their offensive rebounds. They were especially big factors early when they built their lead and they remained critical areas throughout the game.”

DePaul’s David Booth led all scorers with 35 points. Stephen Howard scored 20 points and Terry Davis added 17 for the Blue Demons (6-4), who won their ninth consecutive game at the Rosemont Horizon. The previous eight wins came at the end of last season.

Booth scored 10 points and Howard added eight to help the Blue Demons jump out to a 31-13 lead in the first 8:46 of the game.

DePaul stretched the margin to 46-24 on Howard’s tip-in with 7:57 left in the half.

“I knew DePaul was a better team than the way they had been playing,” Hillock said. “They attacked our press extremely well.

“We need to regroup for our conference opener.”

Loyola opens West Coast Conference play at Pepperdine Saturday night.