No. 25 Saint Mary's 80, Loyola Marymount 49

2/17/2008 1:22 AM

LOS ANGELES (AP) - St. Mary's freshman Patrick Mills struggled through a shooting slump during the first half of February. He ended it against Loyola Marymount.

In the No. 25 Gaels' 80-49 rout of the Lions on Saturday night, the 5-foot-11 point guard snapped his four-game drought that had included 15 consecutive missed 3-pointers.

His 22 points against Loyola included four 3-pointers. He also had four assists and two steals.

``It was only a matter of time,'' St. Mary's coach Randy Bennett said. ``We were able to continue winning during his shooting slump and I'm glad he came out of it sooner rather than later.''

Mills said, ``Slump or no slump, the great thing about this team is there's always someone able to step up and make big shots. That's really one of our best qualities.''

Diamon Simpson added 12 points and nine rebounds for the Gaels (22-3, 9-1 West Coast Conference). Omar Samhan had six points and eight rebounds.

Lucas Walker chipped in with eight points and Yusef Smith had seven rebounds for St. Mary's, off to its best start in conference play since beginning 11-0 in the 1958-59 season.

The Gaels remained tied for first place with Gonzaga. San Diego trails by a half-game.

``This league is getting very tough, with Gonzaga and San Diego,'' Mills said. ``We're all racing for the No. 1 spot. A lot of hard work still needs to be done.''

Freshman Orlando Johnson had a team-high 14 points and six rebounds for Loyola Marymount (5-21, 2-8). Tim Diederichs was the Lions' next high scorer with five points.

St. Mary's finished with a dominating 45-28 rebounding advantage.

The Gaels played stifling defense and the Lions shot a measly 26.4 percent. It was the lowest percentage of the year for a St. Mary's opponent. LMU made 18 of 25 free throws but just seven of those points came in the second half.

``We all know defensive intensity is one of our strengths,'' Mills said. ``Before the game, we knew a key factor would be our transition defense and ball pressure. Both were big factors.''

The Gaels held LMU scoreless for nearly the first four minutes of the second half and extended their lead during an 18-5 run. Todd Golden hit back-to-back 3-pointers and had a 4-point play to put St. Mary's up 58-27.

``Our guys did a good job, a great job,'' Bennett said. ``The defensive numbers were outstanding.''

St. Mary's led by as many as 32 points and made 10 of 23 3-pointers, including six in the second half.

LMU tied the game at 13 with 13:36 left in the first half, but St. Mary's went on an 11-0 run over the next six minutes. Loyola Marymount made just five of 24 shots in the first 20 minutes.