Pierce Leads Santa Clara Past Loyola

Lloyd Pierce scored 16 of his 19 points in the second half as Santa Clara rebounded from a one-point halftime deficit to beat Loyola Marymount, 74-54, Friday night.

The victory pulled Santa Clara, 12-9 overall and 6-3 in the West Coast Conference, into a three-way tie for the conference lead with Gonzaga and San Francisco.

Jim Williamson led Loyola Marymount (6-15, 3-6) with 17 points. None of his teammates reached double figures as the Lions shot only 30% in the second half and 37.5% for the game.

Pierce scored eight points in the first 2 1/2 minutes of the second half as Santa Clara, which trailed, 32-31, at the break, outscored Loyola Marymount, 14-5, in the first five minutes of the second half.

In another West Coast Conference game:

St. Mary’s 87, Pepperdine 61--Eric Schraeder, getting a rare start, made five of St. Mary’s first six baskets in the second half as the Gaels rallied to win at Moraga, Calif.

St. Mary’s (15-7, 5-4) ended a two-game conference losing streak, while the Waves (5-16, 3-6), led by Marques Johnson’s 16 points and Bryan Hill’s 15, dropped their 10th road game of the season with only one victory.

Schraeder, starting for the injured A.J. Rollins, had averaged five points per game before Friday, but made 10 of 13 field goal attempts for a season-high 23 points against Pepperdine.

OTHER GAMES

In the America East Conference:

Boston 70, Hofstra 58--Boston (18-3, 13-0) won to extend the nation’s longest winning streak to 13 games. Tunji Awojobi scored 26 points and James Schwartz added 15, including five in a key stretch of the second half at Hempstead, N.Y.

Lawrence Thomas led Hofstra (10-12, 7-7) with 21 points.

In the Ivy League:

Princeton 57, Dartmouth 55--Gabe Lewullis, who finished with a game-high 14 points, sank two important shots and forced visiting Dartmouth (13-6, 5-2) to turn over the ball in the last minutes of the game, setting up the go-ahead foul shots that gave Princeton (15-3, 5-0) the victory.

In a game between the top two contenders for the league title, Princeton came back from a five-minute scoring drought in the second half. It was Princeton’s 10th consecutive victory.