GAME NOTES: The first round of the 2015 West Coast Conference Tournament concludes late Friday night, as the Lions of Loyola Marymount take on the Santa Clara Broncos at Orleans Arena in Las Vegas.

Loyola Marymount enters the postseason gathering after logging an 8-22 overall record in 2014-15, which included its 4-14 league ledger. As a result, the Lions finished in a tie with fellow conference cellar dweller Pacific, but lost the tie-breaker to be saddled with the 10th seed. LMU is in the midst of a six-game losing streak, and dropped both meetings with the Broncos during the regular season.

Santa Clara wound up four games under .500 both overall (13-17) and in conference (7-11), and it finished in a three-way tie for sixth place in the standings, earning the No. 7 seed in this tourney. The Broncos closed the regular season with victories in two of their final three games, with a 71-70 triumph over a 21-win Saint Mary's squad last Saturday giving the team some much-needed confidence heading into this event.

Loyola Marymount is 18-25 all-time in the WCC Tournament, and it has three titles to its credit. Unfortunately, the last one came way back in 1990. As for Santa Clara, it is an even 26-26 in the event, and two tournament trophies have been won by the Broncos, the latest occurring in 1993.

The winner of this bout moves on to the quarterfinals on Saturday to challenge No. 2 seed BYU.

The Broncos own an 88-57 lead in the all-time series with the Lions.

For the season, Loyola Marymount posted averages of 62.5 ppg for and 70.1 ppg against, both of which ranked the team ninth in the 10-team conference. The Lions did manage to have a player considered among the best in the WCC, as Evan Payne, recently hobbled by a knee injury, finished third in the scoring race with his 17.6 ppg. The only other double-digit scorer on the roster is Marin Mornar (10.1 ppg), and he performed well in other areas too, leading the team in blocked shots (46), while sitting second in rebounds (5.4 rpg). LMU finished in the upper half of the conference in both free-throw percentage (.711, fourth) and 3-point field goal percentage (.356, fifth), but nearly dead last in overall field goal percentage (.420, ninth). The Lions were the worst at defending opposing shots, yielding 45.5 percent from the field to their opponents, which included a 38.6 percent showing beyond the arc.

Santa Clara is the weakest offensive team in the WCC, putting up a mere 62.2 ppg in hitting a league-low 41.8 percent of its field goal attempts. The Broncos also struggle at the other end of the court, sitting last in rebounding margin (-4.5), as well as in blocked shots (1.8 bpg). The team finished the regular season ninth in the league in both field goal percentage defense (.452) and 3-point field goal percentage defense (.381), but fifth in scoring defense (66.8 ppg). Brandon Clark (15.5 ppg, 3.8 apg) and Jared Brownridge (15.4 ppg) are the only double-digit scorers on the roster, nearly doubling the average output of their closest teammate.

Both teams are in trouble in the next round, but for this particular meeting expect the Broncos to pick up their third win of the season over the Lions.