San Luis Obispo Makes Loyola Work for 76-64 Victory at Home

It figured to be merely a midweek tuneup for this weekend’s conference matchups, but Loyola Marymount on Tuesday night instead found itself in a hard-fought battle against Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, before pulling away down the stretch for a 76-64 nonconference victory.

Apparently, the Mustangs were intent on keeping their road winning streak alive. Granted, that streak was only one before they came to play before 1,528 at Gersten Pavilion.

But before winning at Cal State Sacramento last Saturday, they had lost 31 in a row on the road dating to 1993.

And they had the Lions (12-5) on the ropes throughout much of Tuesday’s game, giving them fits with their aggressive, trapping defense.

The Mustangs (9-9) had a 43-42 lead with 16 minutes to play. But the Lions ran off 12 consecutive points to open a 54-43 lead and were never headed.

“We just regained our poise,” said reserve forward Tim Kennedy, who had a career-high 13 points. “Coach [John Olive] was stressing that at halftime.”

Center Ime Oduok scored 13 of his 17 points in the second half, and pulled down eight rebounds.