UNLV Ends Loyola Marymount Streak

Odartey Blankson had 25 points and 12 rebounds as Nevada Las Vegas ended Loyola Marymount’s season-opening five-game winning streak with a 78-61 victory before 3,076 on Saturday night at Gersten Pavilion.

Loyola grabbed its only lead in the second half at 41-40 on two free throws by Sherman Gay. Romel Beck countered with a four-point play after being fouled on a three-point shot and slammed in a lob pass from Jerel Blassingame for a 46-41 lead.

Chris Ayer’s basket got the Lions (5-1) within 52-50 with 13:09 remaining before the Rebels took charge with a 19-4 run. Blankson had eight points in the spurt as the Lions missed 12 consecutive shots at one point.

“[Blankson] is really hard to guard because he’s an inside-outside player,” Loyola Coach Steve Aggers said. “He’s extremely athletic and he’s a lot stronger than you think. He’s probably the best player we’ve played against this year.”

The Lions shot only 38.7%, making only 11 of 34 shots in the second half after trailing by three at intermission.

“I’ve watched all their games on tape and that’s probably as well as they’ve played,” Aggers said. “That’s a very athletic team.

“Coach [Charlie] Spoonhour is known as a defensive coach and he’s got them playing with great intensity.”

Beck, a transfer from L.A. City College, finished with 19 points.

Gay led Loyola with 21 points and seven rebounds and Charles Brown added 14.

-- Eric Stephens

Pepperdine 87, Long Beach State 73 -- Glen McGowan scored 17 of his 21 points in the second half as the Waves broke open a close game to win at Malibu.

Pepperdine (2-4), which ended a three-game losing streak, held a 35-31 halftime lead and broke to a 50-38 advantage with 13:19 remaining.

Pepperdine shot 55.9% from the field in the second half and the 49ers 48.3%.

The 49ers (1-3) were led by Jibril Hodges, who had 17 points. Long Beach State made 22 of 25 free throws to stay in contention.

49er freshman Kevin Houston had 10 points and Kevin Roberts added nine.

Besides McGowan, four other Waves scored in double figures. Shaun Davis, Alex Acker and Terrance Johnson each had 13 and Jesse Pinegar added 12.

Pepperdine had only five turnovers and Long Beach had 20.

San Jose State 55, Cal State Northridge 49 -- Bim Okunrinboye scored 16 points and made two free throws with 18 seconds left at San Jose to lift the Spartans past the Matadors.

Eric Walton had 17 points and nine rebounds for San Jose State (2-3), which survived a late 12-0 rally by the Matadors for their first victory over a Division I opponent.

Sergei Lepiashinski scored 12 points for Northridge (2-3), which lost leading scorer Ian Boylan because of foul trouble with nearly 10 minutes to play.

The Matadors shot 33.3% from the field and failed to score 50 points for only the second time in Coach Phil Braswell’s eight seasons.

Cal State Fullerton 82, Northern Arizona 67 -- Freshman Bobby Brown scored 16 points and Pape Sow added 14 points to lead the Titans past the Lumberjacks at Fullerton.

Fullerton (2-3) shot 54% and out-rebounded Northern Arizona, 40-27, to win its second consecutive game.

Kelly Golob led Northern Arizona (2-4) with 24 points.

Brown scored eight points during a 15-4 run that gave Fullerton a 21-10 lead in first seven minutes.

Northern Arizona later failed to score for nearly five minutes and Fullerton extended its lead to 46-26 with 2:37 to play before halftime.

Fullerton lost, 77-60, to Northern Arizona in the season opener at Flagstaff, Ariz.

UC Irvine 87, Arkansas Monticello 67 -- Mike Efveberha scored 37 points as the Anteaters (4-3) rolled past the Boll Weevils at the McCaffrey Classic in Fresno.

Irvine shot 67% in the second half and Monticello never cut the deficit below 10.

Efveberha’s 37 points were the most by an Irvine player since Jerry Greene tallied 41 in an overtime game against Pepperdine on Nov. 20, 2001.

“I was happy how we maintained our composure in the second half,” Coach Pat Douglass said. “It feels good to leave here with two wins. We learned a lot about our team with three games in four days.”