Loyola Wins, Enjoys First-Place Hoopla

Will success spoil Loyola Marymount?

The streaking Lions rolled to their ninth straight victory Friday night, defeating the University of San Diego, 67-59, to remain in first place in the West Coast Athletic Conference with a 7-0 record, their best conference mark ever.

In the process, Loyola drew a record on-campus crowd of 4,110, had its first pregame fight at halfcourt between boisterous Loyola and San Diego fans, needed crowd control for the first time in memory and heard the chant “NCAA” for the first time in decades.

Until the new year, Loyola was just another .500 Lion team playing before friends and relatives. Now, the winning streak and campus enthusiasm are unprecedented.

“It’s like some time machine we stepped in,” a grinning Loyola Coach Paul Westhead said, “and when we stepped out, in place are the crowd, crowd control, parking problems. Next thing you know, they’re going to be scalping tickets.”

Friday night’s game was won even without much help from scoring leader Keith Smith, who sprained his ankle in the first minute and scored only five points.

Forrest McKenzie picked up the slack, hitting four long jumpers to break open a 33-33 halftime tie and finishing with 26 points. The last four points came on technical fouls called against San Diego guard Eric Musselman and Coach Hank Egan with eight seconds left and provided a demonstrative ending, with McKenzie raising his arms in triumph.

McKenzie also led both teams with 11 rebounds as Loyola won the battle of the boards, 44 rebounds to San Diego’s 38.

The key Loyola rebound belonged to guard Enoch Simmons, who snatched one away from San Diego’s 7-foot center, Scott Thompson, after San Diego had cut an eight-point lead to 53-49. Simmons was fouled and made both free throws for the last of his 10 points.

McKenzie had helped shoot Loyola to a quick 17-8 lead, but Thompson hit four straight baskets midway through the half to help the Toreros take several brief leads with Smith on the bench.

“Enoch Simmons came in for Keith (Smith) and did a terrific job,” Westhead said. “Simmons replacing him was crucial. And Forrest just lit it up. . . . I haven’t seen shooting like that anywhere.”

Loyola takes a 15-6 overall record into tonight’s home game against St. Mary’s and will be looking to tie the school record of 10 straight wins. The Lions probably will have to do it without Smith, whose ankle will be examined this morning.

The loss dropped San Diego to 4-3 in the WCAC and 14-7 going into tonight’s game at Pepperdine, which is a game behind Loyola at 6-1.