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PROVO, Utah (AP) - Anthony Ireland had 27 points, five assists and five steals as Loyola-Marymount won its sixth straight game with an 82-68 victory over BYU on Thursday night.
Drew Viney added 21 points for the Lions (11-8, 4-2 West Coast), who earned a split of the season series vs. BYU and have won four straight conference road games.
Noah Hartsock led the Cougars (16-5, 5-2) with 28 points. Brandon Davies added 14 points and nine rebounds.
"Loyola played a great game against us," BYU coach Dave Rose said. "I thought they defended us really well and contested almost every pass and every shot. They had a good defensive game plan that made it really hard for us to get the ball in the post."
Loyola-Marymount, clinging to a 61-59 lead with 5:55 remaining, went on an 11-0 run over the next four minutes. Ireland accounted for eight of those points, doing most of his damage at the free-throw line where he was 6 for 6 during the spurt and 12 for 14 in the game.
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"He's talented and tough," Lions coach Max Good said of his sophomore guard. "Talent without toughness is useless."
BYU lost at home for just the second time in 12 games this season - the other an 86-83 loss to No. 3 Baylor.
The Cougars shot just 38 percent from the field against Loyola-Marymount and were 2 for 25 on 3-point attempts. BYU was also outrebounded 42-33.
"They did a good job on defense, really spread us out, and made us take tough shots," Hartsock said. "They were very active as a team on the defensive end and kept us from making the shots we wanted."
Loyola-Marymount led 34-28 at halftime as the Cougars missed all 12 of their 3-point attempts and were 6 of 12 from the free-throw line. Hartsock hit 6 of 7 first-half shots for 15 points but the rest of the team was just 5 for 24 from the field.
"We lead the league in 3-point percentage defense for whatever that's worth," Good said. "I'm just glad this one is over and in the books.
"You better have a great plan and a lot of luck and hope they are missing because they're terrific. We did a good job of keeping the crowd out of the game."
(Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
