Loyola Cagers Hoping for Another Victory in Rematch With Reno : Basketball: The Lions want to get on the winning track after losing a tough season opener to UNLV.

If history repeats itself, basketball fans are in for an entertaining evening Saturday when Loyola Marymount opens its home season against Nevada Reno.

Loyola (0-1) got its most exciting victory of the season last year in Reno, beating the Wolf Pack, 130-125, and several of the stars of that game return for the rematch.

On that night, Loyola’s Hank Gathers tied the school scoring record, getting 49 points while grabbing 26 rebounds, and five other Lions scored in double figures.

Loyola lost to that other Nevada team, the Runnin’ Rebels of Las Vegas, 102-91, in last week’s Preseason National Invitation Tournament. The Lions, however, showed they’re a competitive team by staying with the nationally top-ranked Rebels for most of the game on UNLV’s court.

The Lions figure to try to put more points on the board against Reno, whose defense does not compare to that of its prosperous relatives in Las Vegas. Loyola, which led the nation in scoring the last two seasons at better than 110 points per game, and Reno, which averaged more than 90 points last season, also are among the nation’s more generous teams. Reno allowed nearly 90 points per game last season while Loyola allowed more than 100.

That may make traditional coaches wince, but it makes for entertaining games that test who can go all-out longest.

Last year the answer turned out to be the Lions--specifically Gathers, whose all-out effort did in the Wolf Pack. Virtually dominating the front line himself, Gathers hit 24 of 37 shots and had 13 rebounds at each end. If he had been able to hit a free throw in the closing seconds, he would have recorded the first 50-point game in Loyola history.

Free throws remain a bugaboo for Gathers, who is shooting them right-handed again after trying left-handed in exhibition games. He was 0-for-3 against UNLV, but Coach Paul Westhead appeared unworried. “I think he’ll turn it around,” Westhead said. “He’s trying to adjust and get a rhythm.”

The Lions hope to have fine-tuned their fast break a bit since last week. They also hope to get more minutes out of speedy point guard Tony alker, who fouled out against UNLV and saw action for only 17 minutes.

Bo Kimble, Jeff Fryer and Per Stumer join Gathers and Walker in the starting lineup. Kimble and Fryer, the team’s three-point shooters, combined for 44 points against UNLV. The Lions also got a spark off the bench from swing man Tom Peabody and sophomore guard Terrell Lowery, who pumped in 15 points and five assists in 23 minutes last week.

Westhead would still like to find a dependable big man off the bench. Sophomore forward John O’Connell played respectably as the first front line player off the bench, but backup center Chris Knight was ineffective and Marcellus Lee did not play.

Reno opens with familiar faces, led by guard Kevin Franklin, a junior out of Taft High in Woodland Hills who gunned in 33 points against Loyola last year. The 6-foot-3 scorer averaged 17.7 points in last year’s guard-oriented offense. Sophomore Kevin Soares joins him in the back court, where he averaged 5.6 assists as a freshman. In two preseason games Franklin and Soares were the leading scorers. Senior Jon Baer, 6-foot-8, and junior Matt Williams start at forward.

The big addition for Coach Len Stevens is 6-10 freshman center Ric Herrin, who Stevens feels will make a legitimate impact this season. “With the addition of Ric as the first true center this team has had in many years, it will free up a lot of perimeter shooting,” Stevens said.

Loyola leads the all-time series with Reno, 26-13, and has won 12 of the last 14 meetings in Los Angeles. Reno competed in the West Coast Conference in the 1970s but is now a member of the Big Sky Conference.

The 7:30 game will be televised on SportsChannel-Los Angeles cable and will be preceded by the Loyola women’s opener against Eastern Illinois at 5 p.m.