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GAME NOTES: A six-game road trip finally draws to a close for the Loyola Marymount Lions tonight, as they drop in on the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos in non-conference action inside the Thunderdome.

Since defeating La Sierra by a 100-62 score back on November 14 at home in Los Angeles, the Lions have been on the road and will not be back at Gersten Pavilion until this coming Saturday when they host the Cal Poly Mustangs, just one of the three opponents against which LMU has faltered in recent weeks. On Saturday Loyola survived an overtime test against Long Beach State in the Pyramid by a score of 80-77.

As for the Gauchos, they've logged double-digit wins over the likes of Denver and Fresno State, but most recently the team suffered its third loss in five tries with a 75-63 setback versus the University of Portland on Saturday night.

With respect to the all-time series between these two schools on the hardwood, this is a relationship that dates back to 1924 when UCSB claimed a 30-10 win at home. However, the Lions currently own a 48-38 advantage in the series even though the Gauchos have taken three in a row, including an 89-84 final at Gersten Pavilion just last season.

A pair of free throws by Vernon Teel in the final seconds of overtime helped the Lions capture the three-point win over the Long Beach State 49ers in a non-conference battle at the Walter Pyramid. Teel finished with a double- double consisting of a game-high 20 points and 11 rebounds for the Lions, while Drew Viney registered a double-double of his own with 18 points and 12 rebounds. Ashley Hamilton also posted a double-double for the visitors with 13 points and 11 boards, while Anthony Ireland and Tim Diederichs accounted for 12 and 11 points, respectively. One of two players to have started every game thus far for the Lions, Viney leads the squad with his 16.1 ppg and 7.7 rpg, which makes it slightly easier to accept that he has turned the ball over 26 times already. Teel checks in with 13.0 ppg and 7.5 rpg, but he too has been sloppy with the ball and already have 25 miscues in his six outings. As a group, the Lions have been awful from behind the three-point line to this point, making just 21.2 percent of their chances.

The Gauchos were paced by James Nunnally who registered a double-double with 22 points and 11 rebounds, while Orlando Johnson stepped in with 18 points, four boards and four assists in the team's third loss in the last four outings as the squad took a tumble against Portland on the road. UCSB got off to a very slow start in the first half, shooting a mere 6-of-17 from the floor and failing to get to the free-throw line, en route to a 37-15 deficit at the break. In the second half the Gauchos bounced back with 48.5 percent shooting from the floor and a perfect 12-of-12 at the stripe, but by then it was too late. Johnson has been a scoring machine in the early going for the Gauchos with his 24.6 ppg, shooting not only 52.2 percent from the field but also 14- of-28 beyond the arc as one of the highest-scoring players in the nation. Nunnally bolsters his 18.0 ppg with 6.4 rpg, but his 23.3 percent accuracy out on the perimeter indicates he should stay closer to the action in the paint anyway.

Even though they have a losing record at the moment, the truth is that the Gauchos have one of the most dynamic scoring duos in college basketball at the moment in Johnson and Nunnally.