North Texas will be playing host Loyola-Marymount this Sunday in the final game of the DoubleTree Tournament Los Angeles Westside Centennial Classic. This tournament is in honor of the 100^th Anniversary of the school. This is the first tournament to be held at the Gersten Pavilion on the campus since the 1992-93 season.

LMU is a “Roman Catholic University in the Jesuit and Marymount traditions” and is a Division I program playing in the West Coast Conference. The program made a lot of noise in 1988 when they led the nation in scoring with 110.3 points a game. The following year they repeated the feat by scoring 112.5 points a game and in 1990 they averaged 122.4 points a game going to the NCAA Elite Eight. They advanced that far in spite of losing one of their premier players Hank Gathers who passed away on the court in the WCC Tournament.

Going into this tournament, LMU has a 4-2 record. One of the losses came against Sun Belt Conference member Middle Tennessee when the Blue Raiders dropped them 51-58. However, LMU has dropped several ranked teams this season. Last Tuesday, the last game going into the tournament, the Lions came back from a 12 point deficient to knock off #23 St. Louis. The comeback was sparked when LaRon Armstead, Sr., F, 6-5, 200 came off the bench to score 22 points.

The second game of the season the Lions upset #17 UCLA 69-58. In the game they went outside hitting 10 three pointers out of 15 attempts. They used pressure defense and patience to knock off the Bruins.

There are four seniors on the team and four redshirt juniors so they have a great blend of experience and youth on the team. They definitely are a good team. Last year they played in their first postseason game in twenty years, it was the first time since the 1999-2000 season. They posted an 18-16 record last year after winning only seven games the year before in 2007-2008 season and three games in the 2006-2007 season.

Anthony Ireland, So., G, 5-10, 175 is the leading scorer on the team with 16 points per game. Ashley Hamilton, Jr., G, 6-7, 210 is right behind with 15.3 and Jarred DuBois, Jr., G, 6-3, 180 is the last in double figures with 12.5.  

It is Godwin Okonji, So., F, 6-8, 220 leading the team in total rebounds with 12 offensive and 22 defensive rebounds for an average of 5.7 per game. Ayodeji Egbeyemi, So., F, 6-4, 205 has a total of 28 rebounds, eight offensive and 20 defensive for an average of 4.7 total rebounds a game. There are three more that are averaging slightly under four rebounds per game.

Gone are the days when they averaged over 100 points a game. Instead they are putting in 70.3 points a game and holding opponents to 66.3 a game. Even though the three point shot is not their primarily weapon, they can use it and they use it effectively. So far this season they have tried 92 threes hitting 37 for an average of .402 per cent.

This should be an exciting game for the projected 2000 basketball fans that will be in the stands.