Loyola Gathering In Points Again

The Loyola Marymount basketball team was back on track last week, thanks to a greater team effort and an offensive explosion by center Hank Gathers.

In two victories last week the Lions scored 131 points against Marist and 130 against Nevada-Reno to push their scoring average up to 114.6.

The main man was 6-7 junior Gathers, who had 39 points and 13 rebounds against Marist, then broke the bank in Reno with a school-record 49 points and 26 rebounds.

Guards Jeff Fryer and Enoch Simmons continue to average about 20 points, but both fouled out in Reno with sub-par totals. Unlike earlier this season, the bench made up the difference with good performances from sophomore guard Terry Mister and senior center John Veargason.

Starting forwards Per Stumer and Tom Peabody have also begun to show consistency. Peabody and Mister each scored a career-high 12 points against Reno and had key baskets down the stretch, and Veargason had 24 rebounds in the two games. Freshman guard Terrell Lowery has also provided some offensive spark off the bench.

“We got great help off the bench,” Lions Coach Paul West-head said after the Reno game. “Veargason is giving us some very good minutes. Peabody kind of surfaced in the last six minutes. The team gave an incredible amount of effort. We got a couple (length-of-court) three-second layups, and we hadn’t seen that in a while. That’s when I knew it was in the bag.”

Actually, it was in the Bank--as Gathers is known to teammates. Gathers has improved his season averages to 34.6 points and 15.1 rebounds, both of which may lead the country when the latest statistics are released.

Gathers missed the front end of a 1-and-1 and had two baskets disallowed by fouls or he would have recorded Loyola’s first 50-point game, a goal he set the night before.

Gathers had a feeling he would be hot. When the team got to Reno, he won $80 at the slot machines, though he poured it all back in. Then he poured it on the Wolf Pack, who had two players foul out trying to cover him.

“The points just seemed to be coming,” he said. “I didn’t even know what the score was, because the scoreboard was so high overhead. For us that’s good, because we fall behind a lot.”

Gathers said he was not surprised by his 49-point total, which came on 24-of-37 shooting. Many of his baskets came off his 13 offensive rebounds. “I told (forward) Chris Knight I wanted to score 50. I wasn’t necessarily gonna gun it; they just came to me. I had a nice touch.”

The Lions have a busy week in their last games before opening West Coast Athletic Conference play. For those who want a (fast) break from football bowl games, Wisconsin-Green Bay comes to town Monday for a 7:30 game; then high-scoring Xavier of Cincinnati is in Wednesday. The Lions travel to San Diego on Saturday to play U.S. International in what should be another run-and-gun shoot-out.

Green Bay gave the Lions a tough game last year in Wisconsin--a 70-67 Loyola win--and will try to keep the score in the 70s this time around. Loyola is averaging 128.3 points in Gersten Pavilion and will try to force the pace into triple figures.

It was also a good week for the Loyola women’s team, which improved to 7-3 with home victories over George Washington University and Murray State.

The 55-53 victory over George Washington came in overtime on a buzzer-beater by guard Lynn Flanagan. The next night’s win over Murray, 69-61, may have been the Lions’ most impressive of the season. Murray brought a 9-0 record and national rating into Gersten.

The Lions begin a string of six road games Tuesday at Weber State before again playing at home January 20.

Flanagan, who scored 30 points in the two games, has taken over the team scoring lead with a 12.5 average, followed by center Tricia Gibson at 11.2, forward Regan O’Hara at 9.1 and guard Kristen Bruich at 8.7.