LOS ANGELES — The past two times the BYU Cougars visited Gersten Pavilion, they had to rally from double-digit deficits to beat Loyola Marymount.
Thursday night, BYU followed that same pattern of getting down big but this time the Cougars couldn’t complete the comeback as the Lions, who entered the night tied for last place in the West Coast Conference standings, recorded a surprising 76-69 victory.
LMU had three players score in double figures — James Batemon (28 points), Eli Scott (19) and Zafir Williams (12) and it forced BYU into 16 turnovers. The opportunistic Lions scored 24 points off those turnovers in just their second league win of the season.