Loyola Marymount falls to Santa Clara, 76-68, in WCC men’s quarterfinals

Loyola Marymount pushed Santa Clara through much of the second half before the hopes of another upset faded in a 76-68 loss to the Broncos on Saturday in the West Coast Conference men’s tournament quarterfinals at Las Vegas.

Freshman guard Anthony Ireland led the Lions with a career-high 24 points, but Loyola was hurt at the line, where it made only 14 of 29 free throws. Santa Clara made 23 of 29.

Drew Viney, who had led the No. 7-seeded Lions’ upset of Portland on Friday night, again had a big night with 18 points, 10 rebounds and two steals.

Loyola led by two early in the second half, but after the score was tied, 40-40, Santa Clara went on a 10-1 run.

Before the game, senior guard Vernon Teel was dismissed from the Loyola Marymount team for conduct detrimental to the program, Coach Max Good said.

“This was an internal decision that we felt was best for our team and our program,” Good said. “This was strictly based on internal issues and was not attributed to behavior in or around the WCC tournament.”

Teel had led the Lions in assists (averaging 3.8 a game) and steals (averaging 1.7) and was second on the team in scoring (averaging 12.8).

WOMEN

San Diego 77, Pepperdine 68: Sam Child scored 21 points and Dominique Conners and Amy Kame made key plays down the stretch to lead the No. 7-seeded Toreros (17-13) over the No. 3 Waves (18-11) in the quarterfinals.

The win avenged two regular-season losses to Pepperdine.

San Diego led 54-34 in the second half before Pepperdine fought back, getting within 66-61 with 1:40 remaining.

Conners stole an inbounds pass with 1:17 left and made one of two free throws. Kame grabbed the offensive rebound, was fouled and made both free throws to push San Diego’s lead back to 10.

Lauren Bell led Pepperdine with 22 points, and Katie Menton added 18.

Portland 75, Santa Clara 64: The Pilots took an 11-point lead at halftime and held on from there for the quarterfinal victory.

ReZina TecleMariam scored 17 of her career-high 28 points in the first half for the No. 4-seeded Pilots (16-14). The Broncos (11-19) shot 34.5% for the game.