Loyola Turns It On After Gaines Is Lost, 108-89

From the rare sighting of scalpers outside Gersten Pavilion to the frenzied sellout crowd of 4,156 inside, Loyola Marymount’s game against Santa Clara Friday night had a playoff atmosphere.

Loyola emerged from the rugged contest bloodied but unbowed, 108-89, and stretched its winning streak to 16 games. The Lions are 9-0 in the West Coast Athletic Conference and 19-3 overall.

Loyola paid a price in beating Santa Clara for the second time in seven days. Guard Corey Gaines was injured on a drive to the basket midway through the second half and had X-rays taken on the area just above his left ankle after the game.

Loyola forward Mark Armstrong played most of the second half with a blood-stained jersey. It was the kind of game the WCAC has come to expect from Santa Clara--but the kind of score the conference has come to expect from Loyola.

The Lions hit triple figures for the 15th time this season, maintaining their nation-best scoring average of 108 points.

“It was a good, clean, hard game,” Loyola Coach Paul Westhead said. “Even the Corey Gaines thing was clean, it was just one of those things. Bodies were falling on top of each other all over.”

Gaines will miss tonight’s 7:30 game against USF and is questionable for Wednesday’s game at Pepperdine.

“I’m concerned because he could be seriously injured, or just out a couple days,” Westhead said. “Quite honestly, I don’t know if we can win without Corey Gaines. He’s that valuable to the way we push the ball.”

In a back-and-forth game, the Lions seemed to turn up the intensity a notch after Gaines was hurt. They were leading only 69-66 when Gaines drove the right side of the lane, was fouled under the basket and landed hard with Santa Clara forward Jens Gordon on top of him.

He was helped off the court and went to the trainer’s room, with Jeff Fryer shooting the free throws. That was the start of a 12-0 Loyola run, featuring two Bo Kimble three-pointers and four points by Enoch Simmons.

Armstrong, who dealt as much punishment as he received, stretched the lead when he hooked in a left-handed bank shot after a rebound.

Armstrong, a senior, finished with 15 points and 12 rebounds and dominated the boards as the Lions pulled away down the stretch. The Broncos, who appeared to wilt under Loyola’s full-court pressure, committed 24 turnovers, negating their 58.5% shooting. The Broncos are 15-7 on the season and 6-3 in the WCAC, a game behind second-place Pepperdine.

Loyola trailed for much of the first half, missing from the outside while Santa Clara center Dan Weiss was scoring inside.

Weiss, who had a career-high 33 last Saturday against Loyola, had 11 points in the first 10 minutes as the Broncos built a 24-18 lead.

But Weiss didn’t score again in the half, and Loyola picked up its shooting. Three-pointers by Gaines and Kimble tied the game at 28-28, and the Lions went ahead, 32-30, on free throws by Mike Yoest.

The Lions built a 40-33 lead but squandered most of it on the way to a 43-41 lead at intermission. Former Long Beach Poly High star Osei Appiah kept the Broncos in it, scoring most of his 11 first-half points after Weiss was quieted. Weiss finished with 17 points and Appiah had 16.

The Lions had only one player in double figures at the half, Yoest with 10. But they shot 50% in the second half, including 8 of 15 from three-point range, and finished with seven players in double figures.

Kimble led the way with 23, with Yoest and Fryer scoring 16 apiece. Gaines had 13 points and 11 assists in the 25 minutes he played. Gordon led Santa Clara with 19 points and 7 rebounds before fouling out.

“We’re known for our offense and our scoring, but ultimately it was the defense that turned the game,” Westhead said. “We changed our press a little (from last week), and that helped us. We caused some turnovers, some confusion and wore them down.”