Shelton, LMU rally, overcome blunder to beat St Mary's in OT

Updated Feb. 10, 2023 1:13 a.m. ET

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LOS ANGLEES (AP) — Cam Shelton scored all of his career-high 31 points after halftime, enough to overcome him mistakenly taking a timeout late in overtime and lead Loyola Marymount past No. 15 Saint Mary's 78-74 Thursday night.

Loyola Marymount (17-9, 7-5 West Coast Conference) had lost 21 straight to Saint Mary's and trailed 16-0 less than six minutes into this game.

The Lions led 76-73 with 2.6 seconds left in the extra session before Shelton called a timeout when his team had none left. Alex Ducas made just one of the two technical foul shots, then Loyola Marymount’s Keli Leaupepe hit two free throws with one second remaining to seal it.

Shelton scored 24 of the Lions' final 31 points, including a tying layup with two seconds left in regulation. Alex Merkviladze added 15 points for Loyola Marymount, three weeks after it won at then-No. 6 Gonzaga.

Logan Johnson scored a career-high 31 points and Aidan Mahaney had 24 for Saint Mary’s (21-4, 10-1), which had won 12 in a row. The Gaels were coming off a win over then-No. 12 Gonzaga on Saturday.

Loyola Marymount became the only team in WCC history to defeat Gonzaga, BYU and Saint Mary’s in the same season.

Shelton converted a three-point play with 20.9 seconds remaining to pull Loyola Marymount within 60-58, and Justin Ahrens made a 3-pointer with 14 seconds left to cut the Lions’ deficit to 62-61.

After Shelton's tying layup, Mahaney just missed a last-second heave from beyond half court at the end of regulation.

Quickly down by 16, the Lions roared back with a 20-4 run to tie it with 6:13 remaining in the first half.

Saint Mary’s led 30-23 at halftime and continued to lead midway through the second half. Loyola Marymount grabbed a 43-42 advantage on a layup by Merkviladze.

BIG PICTURE

Saint Mary’s: The Gaels fell three victories short of matching the best conference start in program history at 13-0 in 2018. After playing at Portland, Saint Mary’s travels to San Diego next Thursday before a game at home against BYU on Feb. 18.

Loyola Marymount: After playing at Santa Clara on Saturday, the Lions host No. 16 Gonzaga next Thursday in a game that will have the Bulldogs’ complete attention. Loyola Marymount ended Gonzaga’s run of 75 consecutive home victories and 93 consecutive victories over unranked teams with a 68-67 victory on Jan. 19.

UP NEXT

Saint Mary’s: At Portland on Saturday.

Loyola Marymount: At Santa Clara on Saturday.

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AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25

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Cam Shelton

Keli Leaupepe

Alex Ducas

Loyola Marymount Lions

Saint Mary's Gaels

Gonzaga Bulldogs