Loyola Gets Even, Beats Pepperdine, 99-86

In a game in which neatness didn’t count, Loyola Marymount defeated Pepperdine, 99-86, Sunday, riding the Waves back into a three-way, first-place tie in the West Coast Athletic Conference before a standing-room crowd of 4,350 in Gersten Pavilion.

Loyola used a 65-point second half and some timely free throws, notably Enoch Simmons’ 14 straight in the second half, to improve to 11-7 overall and pull into a conference tie with Pepperdine and St. Mary’s at 5-1. Pepperdine is 13-8 overall.

Loyola’s perseverance helped overcome some uncharacteristic poor shooting, especially by 3-point specialist Jeff Fryer. The Lions made only 4 of 25 shots from 3-point range but managed to pull away by outrebounding the Waves in the second half, 30-15, and shooting 50% after halftime to pull away from a 34-32 lead.

Hank Gathers led the Lions with 31 points, and Simmons added 24, all but 4 in the second half. Fryer managed 21 points despite making only 5 of 18 shots.

The Lions also got a spark off the bench from center John Veargason, who had 10 points and 12 rebounds, and guard Terrell Lowery, who had 6 points and 8 assists, including several key feeds as Loyola went on a 9-point run early in the second half to take a 47-40 lead.

Though it wasn’t artistic, the game had the atmosphere of a playoff after Pepperdine’s 104-79 victory Wednesday. Five players fouled out, two technicals were called against Pepperdine, Loyola’s Tom Peabody took an elbow to the eyebrow that needed a half-dozen stitches and opponents had to be separated several times.

“This was our Army-Navy week. It was a test of our guys to put (Wednesday’s loss) behind ‘em and play hard,” Loyola Coach Paul Westhead said. “I didn’t think we shot especially well or looked real slick, but we played really hard.”

Wave Coach Tom Asbury noted Loyola played “with much more emotion.”

“Neither one of these teams could be called physical but that was awful physical and one of the most hard-fought games I’ve seen,” Asbury said.

Both teams, seemingly anxious at the start, went scoreless for the first 2:30, and Loyola needed more than 3 minutes to get on the scoreboard. The Lions eventually built a 26-16 lead, with Gathers accounting for 17 of the points, but Pepperdine managed to keep the game in the 30s.

“I thought we were in great shape at halftime, even though we hadn’t played well,” Asbury said.

They exchanged leads until Loyola caught up, at 40-40, with 17:44 left. The Lions then ran off 9 points and eventually led 72-58 before Pepperdine put on its own spurt behind Tom Lewis and Shann Ferch, who did most of their scoring down the stretch. Lewis finished with 26 points and Ferch with 19.

Pepperdine trimmed the lead to 76-70 on a pair of Lewis free throws with 4:54 to play. But Lewis was called for a technical foul for a comment to the officials, and the Lions easily outdistanced the Waves, making 24 of 28 free throws in the second half.

“You’ve got to give them credit,” Asbury said. “They had their tails kicked the other night, but they came back with a lot of emotion.”

Both teams play host to St. Mary’s next weekend--Friday at Loyola, then Saturday at Pepperdine.

And another Loyola-Pepperdine matchup is a possibility in the WCAC tournament.

“It’s still going to come down to a lot more contests and games. I have a feeling we might meet again,” Asbury said.