USF Wins Again, This Time Beating Loyola

The University of San Francisco has been the mystery team of the West Coast Athletic Conference this season, but Saturday night everyone knew whodunit.

USF left no doubt as a couple of big Macs, mercurial senior Mark McCathrion and lightly regarded sophomore Mark McWhorter, lead the Dons to a 123-109 upset victory over Loyola Marymount before 5,220 fans at USF.

The victory gave USF a sweep of Loyola and Pepperdine this weekend. The Dons defeated conference champion St. Mary’s earlier this month, making them the only WCAC team to beat the top three finishers.

With the loss, Loyola (17-10 overall) finished tied with Pepperdine for second at 10-4, while USF (16-11) clinched fourth place at 7-6.

Conference tie-breakers make Loyola the third-place team going into next weekend’s WCAC tournament at USF. Loyola will open against sixth-place Gonzaga, while USF will face Bay Area rival Santa Clara.

The question now is which USF team will show--the one that defeated the top three WCAC teams as well as Notre Dame, or the one that lost to last-place San Diego and was beaten by 38 points at home by Santa Clara?

“When people were saying we were inconsistent, I said our goal was to peak at the end of the season,” Dons Coach Jim Brovelli said.

The 6-foot-8 McCathrion, who sometimes led the break, finished with 35 points, 17 rebounds and 9 assists--all career highs.

McWhorter, a 7-point-per-game scorer, was often on the end of McCathrion’s passes, getting 34 points, 25 in the second half, on 13-of-15 shooting.

For Loyola, Hank Gathers had 34 points and 12 rebounds and Enoch Simmons added 26 points.

The game turned in a four-minute stretch midway through the second half, when the Dons cut Loyola’s lead to 76-71, then went on a 19-8 run to build a lead the never relinquished. Loyola pulled to within 94-92 with 7:11 left but went down in a flurry of USF two-on-ones and breakaways.

“We were pressing and trapping pretty well but we didn’t get the turnovers,” Lion Coach Paul Westhead said. “Instead of getting steals they were converted into baskets.”

USF shot 72.5% in the second half by beating Loyola’s press.

McCathrion, who scored six points when USF lost at Loyola in January, said, “In the open court it’s fun--get it and go. I wish every team in the league played like that.”

Loyola seemed on the verge of pulling away several times in the first half, building several double figure leads as Gathers scored 19 and Simmons added 16.

But USF hung tough, pulling to within a point at 28-27 and never allowing the Lions to put together an explosive run.

McCathrion and Joel DeBortoli scored 17 apiece, with DeBortoli spinning in a layup at the buzzer for the halftime score of 59-51. DeBortoli finished with 28 points and 10 rebounds.

Will USF, playing on its own floor, be the sleeper of the WCAC tournament? “I don’t think anyone ever doubted they were a good team,” Westhead said. “I’m sure it doesn’t hurt them winning two in a row like this.”