GAME NOTES: Playing in the second leg of a three-game homestand, the Loyola Marymount Lions will take on the UC Riverside Highlanders in a non-conference affair at Gersten Pavilion Wednesday.

UC Riverside owns an even 2-2 record this season, which the Highlanders achieved with a 102-49 destruction of Saint Katherine Sunday. This will be the team's second road game of the new campaign - the first was an 88-42 defeat at Utah.

Loyola Marymount returns home to Gersten Pavilion after an away game in Tempe, Arizona, against Arizona State. The Lions dropped the contest, 68-44, and will once again set up shop in Los Angeles.

The two California-based teams have clashed on the court seven times before, with UC Riverside owning the slim 4-3 advantage. They played last season at Riverside, and the contest went to LMU, 73-69.

Right from the opening tip, it was clear UC Riverside was the vastly superior team against Saint Katherine. The Highlanders shot 59.3 percent from the field in the contest, and held their opponents to a mere 30 percent shooting on the day. Jaylen Bland led Riverside with 20 points in the win, while Robert Boezeman chipped in 16 with eight rebounds and Charles Standifer scored 14 with six boards. Steven Jones came off the bench to score eight points and register a team-best seven assists in the very lopsided win.

Bland's 20-point effort boosted his team-leading scoring average to 14.5 ppg this season. The starter has logged an average of 27.8 minutes per contest, and is shooting a cool 48.6 percent from the floor. Taylor Johns is the only other player on UC Riverside to average a double-digit point total, netting 11.8 ppg. He also leads the team with a 7.0 rpg average, and has nine blocked shots this season to top his squad. The Highlanders are netting 72.0 ppg through four games, and are allowing opponents to score 64.8 points per outing.

Loyola Marymount really struggled to develop any sort of offensive rhythm in the team's loss to Arizona State, as the Lions finished the game with a dismal 28.1 percent shooting mark from the floor, which included a 9.1 shooting percent touch from 3-point range. Evan Payne and Simon Krajcovic each scored nine points to lead the Lions, while Godwin Okonji and David Humphries each added a team-best six rebounds. Loyola's defense wasn't exactly on point either, as the team allowed the Sun Devils to net 46.7 percent of their field goal tries.

In four games, it's been just one player for LMU to shoulder all of the team's scoring. Payne has recorded a 20.5 ppg mark in four games (one start), while Marin Mornar and Ayodeji Egbeyemi's 8.3 ppg averages are second on the squad. Averaging 67.8 ppg, Payne registers nearly one-third of the team's scoring every game. Okonji leads the Lions with 6.8 rpg, and Chase Flint's 14 assists is the most by a single LMU player through four contests.

The home advantage will help Loyola Marymount out significantly, but the Lions need to do a much better job of maintaining a decent shooting percentage with a better shot selection. UC Riverside will make it tough, but LMU should be able to play enough solid defense to hold the Highlanders down.