Close Is Not Good Enough for Westhead

The day before his game with UCLA--which some alumni were calling a pivotal point in the program--Loyola Marymount University basketball Coach Paul Westhead was downplaying the importance of the game and talking about wanting the Lions to feel “like this is fun.”

But Friday, Westhead played it for real, coaxing the Lions within four points late in the game after they had been down 15 at the half. They finally succumbed, 85-79, in their first appearance ever at Pauley Pavilion.

He wasn’t claiming a moral victory. “Fun is when you win,” he said. “We didn’t have enough fun. (Going in) I thought it was a game we could win. I’m happy for our guys--they played well the second half. They didn’t lose easy. I’m not submitting any moral victory.”

The Lions started out well, pulling out to an early 16-9 lead. But they ran out of gas late in the half and missed forward Mark Armstrong, who went to the bench with three fouls at the 7:59 mark.

“The last six or seven minutes of the first half we were just spent,” Westhead said. “And (losing) Armstrong really hurts us. He’ll stay inside and keep flailing away.”

With the tired Lions pulled back into a zone, UCLA’s outside men, Reggie Miller, Montel Hatcher and Pooh Richardson, scored 22 of the Bruins’ 24 points in the last six minutes of the half.

“It was kind of a strange game,” Westhead said. “We got out real well, then we tired and needed the halftime to regroup. We played reasonably well throughout the second half. The guys came back but we just needed to cash in and didn’t get enough baskets at that point.”

It was the first meeting of the two nearby schools in 37 years and had some of the earmarks of a local rivalry, though no rematch is planned.

UCLA rooters chanted, “Magic, Magic,” at Westhead (referring to his past problems with the Laker guard), and during Loyola’s comeback, Lion boosters chanted at UCLA, “You’re not that good.”