ANCHORAGE ? Loyola Marymount forward Matthew Knight had 18 points and nine rebounds and Brandon Worthy scored 20 points Wednesday to lead the Lions to a 69-58 win over host Alaska Anchorage in the opening game of the men's 2006 Carrs/Safeway Great Alaska Shootout at Sullivan Arena.

UAA (4-1) was led by 17 points apiece from forwards Carl Arts and McCade Olsen.

LMU (4-1) avoided the upset by shutting down UAA leading scorer Eric Draper (6 pts, 2-7 FG) and his fellow backcourt mates as the Seawolf guards accounted for only eight total points on 3-of-13 shooting.

UAA got a basket from Olsen (8-12 FG) at the 14:59 mark to give the home team its biggest advantage of the second half at 42-38, but the Lions would answer with an 11-2 run to take control for good.

The Seawolves also got 13 points (2-5 FG, 9-14 FT) from sophomore forward Ivan Platenik, while fellow Australian Luke Cooper dished nine assists.

UAA will fall into Friday's noon AST consolation semifinal against the loser of Missouri-Kansas City and Pacific, while LMU advances to the early semifinal against the winner of UMKC-UOP.

UAA is now 27-58 all-time in the Shootout.