Loyola Marymount Handles Washington, 80-61 : College basketball: The Lions take traditional Pacific 10 Conference weakling seriously, winning despite turning the ball over 23 times.

Washington hasn’t come close to making the NCAA tournament since the mid-1980s, winning as many as half its games only once during the last seven seasons, but Loyola Marymount still viewed Tuesday night’s game against the Huskies as a benchmark.

“Our kids realize that this is an opportunity, at least regionally, to make a statement,” Loyola Coach John Olive said beforehand. “They’re a Pac-10 team and the Pac-10 is the premier conference in the West.

“And any time you play someone from the premier conference, you want to put your best foot forward.”

That proved unnecessary as the Lions rolled to an 80-61 victory at Gersten Pavilion despite matching a season high with 23 turnovers and getting only two points in 32 minutes from their leading scorer, forward Wyking Jones.

“There were some guys who maybe didn’t contribute up to their potential but I think, overall, we played as well as we’ve played all year,” Olive said. “Obviously, we turned the ball over too many times in the first half (when they opened a 36-24 halftime lead despite 15 turnovers).

“Other than that, though, I thought that we were pretty darn sharp in a lot of aspects of the game.”

The Lions made 49% of their shots and limited Washington to 37.3% shooting, including a dismal three-of-22 performance from three-point range, in improving to 6-1, matching the best start in school history.

Washington (1-3) used a 9-0 run to open a 9-3 lead but Loyola answered with a 9-0 run and later extended its lead to 29-13 with a 15-0 run.

Loyola never again led by fewer than 11 points, opening a 62-36 advantage with a 13-0 run midway through the second half.

“Our bench really put the game away in that middle-of-the-second-half stretch when we had to use them because of foul trouble,” Olive said.

Reserve guard Coby McElroy scored 11 points in 12 minutes, making three of four three-point shots, and reserve forward John Anthony had eight points, seven rebounds, two assists and a steal in 18 minutes.

The Lions were led by center Ime Oduok, who had 16 points and eight rebounds despite playing only 17 minutes because of foul trouble, and guard Jim Williamson, who had 15 points and three assists.