San Diego Bench Sinks Loyola

Brian Miles came off the bench to score a career-high 26 points and Alex Davis, another reserve, scored 15 of his 17 points in the second half Thursday night to help host San Diego hold off Loyola Marymount, 72-69.

Miles, whose previous high was 24 points in a victory over Portland State in December, scored 18 points while playing 12 minutes in the first half. He had 15 of his team’s 18 points in the final 7 1/2 minutes of the half.

It was the fourth consecutive victory for San Diego (15-10, 7-6 in the West Coast Conference). The Lions (6-19, 3-10), who beat the Toreros, 73-68, when the teams played last month at Loyola, suffered their sixth straight loss.

Trailing, 66-58, with 5:47 remaining, the Lions went on a 7-1 run to draw within two points with 3 1/2 minutes left.

Loyola had a chance to tie the score three times in the final 27 seconds, but failed each time. Tim Kennedy missed two three-point shots in the last 10 seconds.

Ben Ammerman led Loyola with 20 points and seven rebounds. John Anthony and Kenny Hotopp each had 11 points for the Lions, and Hotopp had nine rebounds.

San Diego’s 15th victory matched a career high for Coach Brad Holland, who was 15-12 with Cal State Fullerton in 1992-93.

BIG WEST CONFERENCE

Pacific 81, Cal State Fullerton 57--Tim Bowman scored 21 points and Rayne Mahaffey had 18 to help the Tigers (19-4, 10-3) rout the Titans (11-12, 4-9) and clinch at least a tie for the Big West’s western division title.

Chris Dade led Fullerton with 18 points and freshman Josh Leighton came off the bench to score 14, but the Titans didn’t get the consistent shooting they needed against one of the conference’s best defensive teams.

The Tigers ended a two-game skid in winning their 16th consecutive home game, including all 11 this season.

Down by six at halftime, Fullerton came back to tie, 43-43, on Leighton’s three-point basket. Craig Whitehead followed with a dunk, giving the Titans the lead with 10:08 remaining.

Pacific answered with a 20-5 run over the next six minutes, capped by Boelter’s second three-pointer in the stretch to put the Tigers up, 63-50. Mahaffey and Anders each scored five points during the run.

The Titans narrowed the deficit to six but lost ground from there.

T.J. Atkins scored 18 points, including a steal and game-winning layup with four seconds to play, and North Texas (10-13, 5-8) beat Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (13-14, 5-8), 73-72, at Denton, Texas. . . . Louis Richardson scored 17 points to help New Mexico State (15-8, 9-4) clinch a berth in the Big West tournament with a 74-65 victory over UC Santa Barbara (10-13, 5-8) at Las Cruces, N.M. . . . Faron Hand scored 25 points and grabbed a game-high 15 rebounds to spark Nevada (16-7, 10-4) to a 76-66 victory over Boise State (13-10, 8-5) at Reno, Nev. . . . Marcus Saxon scored 16 points and Utah State (17-7, 10-3) ran past Idaho (12-15, 4-9), 69-58, at Logan, Utah.

BIG SKY CONFERENCE

Ross Land made two free throws with 27 seconds left to lift Northern Arizona (19-4, 12-1) to a 58-55 victory over Sacramento State (3-20, 2-11) at Sacramento. . . . Nate Holmstadt scored 20 points at Bozeman, Mont., to lead Montana State (15-12, 9-5) to an 83-65 victory over Eastern Washington (6-18, 2-12).