In the moment, as his teammate was enjoying a 3-point shooting performance that later drew comparisons to the Harlem Globetrotters and Stephen Curry, Loyola Marymount senior Eli Scott admits he had only a vague idea what Joe Quintana was doing.
 
“I didn’t even know he was six-for-six,” Scott said of Quintana’s first-half shooting effort from downtown against Pacific. “I knew he was hitting shot after shot. I just wanted him to keep going.”
 
Quintana wound up 8-for-10 from beyond the arc and a scored career-high 31 points, sparking the eighth-seeded Lions to an 86-66 victory over the Tigers in opening-round play of the University Credit Union West Coast Conference Tournament on Thursday night at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas.
 
Quintana’s final 3-pointer, with 29 seconds left, tied a tournament record shared previously by three players, most recently by Gonzaga’s Matt Santangelo, who made eight in the 1999 tournament championship game against Santa Clara.
 
LMU (11-17) advances to a second-round game against fifth-seeded BYU (21-9) on Friday at 6 p.m.
 
Thursday night’s game actually wasn’t settled until the Lions used a 23-7 closing run to break open a game they led just 63-59 with eight minutes left. Scott did most of the heavy lifting during that stretch, scoring 10 of his 20 points.
 
The Lions also got a career-high 19 points from reserve guard Kwane Marble II, who shot 7-for-9, including 3-for-4 on 3-pointers. LMU was 13-for-24 from beyond the arc.
 
But in the first half, Quintana put on a show. He had 22 points in the first 20 minutes, hitting 7 of 8 shots, including all six of his threes.
 
“If I hit my first one,” Quintana said, “I know I can get it going early.”
 
“He tested our man-to-man coverage in the first half,” said Pacific senior Jeremiah Bailey. “He wanted our guards to actually step up and play him for real. Tonight, no one stepped up and took on the challenge. He went on for 31 points.”
 
Pacific coach Leonard Perry said many of Quintana’s shot were contested, but explained the Tigers struggled with a defense choice because Scott requires a double-team inside. Dropping off Quintana proved to be a bad idea in this one.
 
"It’s like the Harlem Globetrotters out there against us. He makes back-breaking shots,” Perry said, referring to the 24-point performance Quintana assembled in their most recent meeting. “Some nights you’ve got to tip your hat.
 
“Some of the shots he made were contested, they really were. He’s 25 to 28 feet away from the rim — that’s a long way at any level. He gets in these zones and it feels like you’re trying to guard Steph Curry out there.”
 
Pacific (8-22) stopped leaving Quintana to double Scott in the second half and still couldn’t stop the Lions. “I thought Joe really kept us in the game early and in the second half Eli delivered,” Johnson said.
 
“It worked out in our favor, regardless of what they did,” Quintana said.
 
CLOSE, THEN SUDDENLY NOT SO CLOSE: Pacific trailed by just four points when Bailey, their most veteran player, picked up his fourth and fifth fouls in short order, going to the bench after being called for an illegal screen with 6:44 left.
 
LMU outscored Pacific, 23-7, the rest of the way.
 
“He’s such a major cog for us, and when you eliminate him as a threat on both ends of the floor, it kind of threw us out of rhythm,” Perry said. “I think it deflated us, honestly. I don’t know that we recovered from that.”
 
FACING A MOTIVATED BYU TEAM: LMU is likely to get the best from BYU on Friday evening. The Cougars are trying to continue building a resume that will convince the NCAA Tournament selection committee they belong in the field.
 
The Lions lost both regular-season matchups, but had a 17-point lead in the second half in the game in Los Angeles before losing, 83-82, in overtime.
 
“We’ve got to play defense,” Johnson said.
 
He also will be looking for a better performance early in the game than they delivered last Thursday, when they fell behind, 17-3, on the way to a 20-point defeat at Provo. “That’s a huge component tomorrow night,” he said.
 
STAT OF THE GAME: LMU outscored Pacific, 39-9, from the 3-point arc. The Lions were 13-for-24 (54 percent) while the Tigers made just 3-of-12 (25 percent).
 
QUOTE OF THE GAME: “In recruiting, sometimes you never know what you’re getting but this is what we thought we were going to get from Kwane.” — LMU coach Stan Johnson on Marble, a transfer from Wyoming, who entered the game averaging 4.2 points but erupted for a career-best 19.