Loyola to Open Season Against Experienced Australian Team

Can a pack of Lions overcome the boys from Down Under? That will be answered when Loyola Marymount unofficially begins the basketball season Saturday night with an 8:30 exhibition game against the Australian National Team.

It should be an interesting test for the Lions, who will play host to a seasoned team that has six Olympic veterans including forward Andrew Gaze, a star of Seton Hall’s NCAA runner-up last spring. Gaze was a final roster cut by the Seattle SuperSonics this week.

Loyola’s lineup features three seniors with pro aspirations of their own--returning starters Hank Gathers, Bo Kimble and Jeff Fryer, all being counted on to continue to pace the Lions’ explosive offense. The starting lineup will also include junior Per Stumer at center and, probably, speedy junior transfer Tony Walker at point guard, with guards Terrell Lowery, a sophomore, and Tom Peabody, a junior, quickly in off the bench.

The Lions will have a slightly different look than last season when they set collegiate records by averaging 112.5 points and scoring 181 points in one game. This season, the 6-foot-5 Kimble will be listed as forward and will be expected to add rebounding, though his forte remains the three-point jump shot. Gathers, who led the nation in rebounding last season, will play more of a true forward spot, with the husky Stumer spending more time in the pivot.

The Lions will also show new looks to their constant full-court press, hoping to be less vulnerable to the long pass. Coach Paul Westhead is also hoping for production from some of the big men. The most impressive in early scrimmages have been 6-10 senior Marcellus Lee and 6-9 sophomore Chris Knight, though both remain inconsistent.

The Lions will continue to run at all opportunities and should be helped by the addition of Walker, who is adept at pushing the ball past defenses and dishing off to the open man. Lowery, a slithery guard who can shoot the three-pointer, and Peabody, a crowd favorite for his mad dashes and dives into the crowd, should be improved.

The Australian team is coached by Adrian Hurley, who led the Aussies to a fourth-place finish in the 1988 Olympics, that country’s best showing ever. Along with the 6-7 Gaze, a noted three-point shooter, the team features guard Philip Smyth, a veteran of three Olympics; guard Damian Keogh and forward Brad Dalton, both veterans of the 1984 and ’88 Olympics, and relative newcomers Mark Bradtke, a 6-10 center, and forward Robert Sibley, both members of the 1988 Olympics.

Five members of the Australian team are 25 or older, and 17-year-old center Anthony Ronaldson is the only teen-ager. Bradtke, 20, is the only other Aussie under 23. Bradtke is a whopping 253 pounds--no shrimp off the barbie.

Westhead has some familiarity with the Australian lineup, having recently toured Australia with a team of NBA veterans including Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

With 11 lettermen, a healthy complement, a returning All-American in Gathers, the deepest team in Westhead’s five seasons and the momentum of two straight NCAA Tournament appearances, the Lions and their followers enter the season with high expectations.