Feb. 25, 2007
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Adoyah Miller hit a 19-foot jumper with five seconds remaining to give Loyola Marymount a 67-66 victory over Santa Clara on Saturday night in a pivotal West Coast Conference game.
With the Lions (13-16, 5-8) trailing 66-65 and 22 seconds to play, the ball was in-bounded on the Santa Clara end to Miller, who dribbled around for 14 seconds before making his move.
He pulled up just inside the 3-point line at the top of the key and made the shot.
Santa Clara (20-8, 10-3) then came out of a time out, Brody Angley drove the length of the court and threw up a desperate layup attempt in the lane while surrounded by Lion defenders.
The ball bounded hard off the backboard and off the front rim as the buzzer sounded.
Lions' fans ran onto the court in celebration after LMU's second upset of the Broncos this season.
John Bryant of Santa Clara led all scorers with 20. Bronco Scott Dougherty added 19.
Matthew Knight led the Lions with 17 points and nine rebounds. Miller finished with nine points.
Coming into the game, first-place Santa Clara led Gonzaga by one game with two conference games to play. Gonzaga defeated San Francisco on the road 86-79 in overtime on Saturday to force the Broncos to defeat the Lions to maintain the solo spot atop the WCC.
Gonzaga and Santa Clara are now tied for first in the WCC with one game to play. On Monday the WCC regular season wraps up as Santa Clara finishes at Pepperdine while Gonzaga wraps up at San Diego and LMU hosts Saint Mary's.
The win moves LMU into sixth place in the WCC.
With 8:25 to play, LMU held a 54-48 lead. Santa Clara, however, went on an 11-1 run in the next three minutes to move ahead 59-55.
Santa Clara had 16 turnovers to LMU's 11. The biggest turnover of the game came as Angley threw an errant pass back across the half-court line to give LMU the ball with 22 seconds to play, setting the stage for Miller's shot.
Santa Clara can still clinch the No. 1 seed for the conference tournament and at least a share of the regular season title with a win at Pepperdine on Monday, Feb. 26. The Broncos game against Pepperdine tips off at 7:00 p.m. PT at Firestone Fieldhouse and will be broadcast live on 1220 KNTS.
