Loyola’s Offense Is Slowed to a Crawl in an 84-69 Loss to Oregon State

Loyola Marymount took its high-speed offense into Gill Coliseum Wednesday night, but it was Oregon State that walked away with an 84-69 victory.

Win No. 634 for Ralph Miller, the nation’s winningest active major college coach, was played at his pace and was controlled by his defense. The Beavers effectively stifled two of Loyola’s high scorers, Mike Yoest and Corey Gaines, who had 9 and 16 points, respectively. Gaines had a season-low 2 assists--and that led the team.

Meanwhile, Oregon State seniors Bill Sherwood and Shawn Freeman scored career highs of 26 and 20 points, respectively.

Oregon State, which often ran the 45-second clock down to single figures, shot 68% in the second half and 59% overall to raise its record to 2-3.

Loyola, which hit 48% in the first half shot only 36% in the second half. The Lions are 3-2.

The crowd of 5,210, for the Beavers’ home opener, was their smallest crowd at Gill Coliseum in nine years.

Lion Coach Paul Westhead, whose team was averaging 107 points per game and had not been held below 85 points this season, credited Miller’s offense with making the difference.

“We were unsuccessful in shaking them out of their pace,” Westhead said. “It was all a result of Oregon State controlling the pace and our guys getting frustrated it wasn’t being played at breakneck speed. They (Beavers) passed three or four more times than we normally would’ve liked on nearly every possession.

The Beavers rapidly pulled away from a 39-39 halftime tie to build a 10-point lead with 11 minutes left. They increased that to 74-59 with 7:20 left as Sherwood constantly scored from inside. The Lions never got closer than 11 points again.

Loyola led early, but the Beavers caught up at 11-11 and, spurred by Sherwood’s 13 early points, led until the final minute of the period, when Hank Gathers’ offensive rebound and layup tied the game, 35-35.

Loyola then took its last lead on a rebound basket by Gaines, but Oregon State tied it just before the buzzer on Gary Payton’s rebound and layup. Gathers was Loyola’s major force in the first half with 14 points on 6-of-8 shooting.

Gathers finished with 23 points to lead the Lions. Payton had 13 points and 8 assists. Junior guard Eric Knox, a St. Bernard High graduate, had 8 points and a career-high 10 assists.

Miller said the victory “came somewhat as a surprise, but our defense was able to curtail their offense much better than they’ve been handled all year. We had enough patience this time to work for the easy shots.”