COLLEGE NOTES : Loyola Breaks 30-Year Streak by Winning Tournament

The Loyola Marymount basketball team not only won its first in-season tournament in 30 years last week but may have discovered a center in the process.

The Lions’ victory in the Gator Bowl Tournament at Jacksonville was their first since winning the West Coast Athletic Conference Christmas Tournament at San Francisco in the 1959-60 season. To put that in perspective, consider: Loyola Athletic Director Brian Quinn, 48, was a freshman at Loyola that year. Lions teams in the last decade have often been the opening game fodder for the host teams, but recent teams under Paul Westhead have come close several times--they threw a scare into St. John’s two years ago in the Redmen’s Lapchick Tournament, losing at St. John’s, 88-85, and were barely beaten by DePaul last year, 115-111, in the Old Style Classic at Chicago.

The Lions’ 125-95 victory over Stetson and 106-105 title game win over Jacksonville finally broke the jinx.

Along the way, injuries forced Westhead to use sophomore Chris Knight, and the slender 6-foot-9 center--known to teammates as “Blade”--had his best games in a Loyola uniform. He came off the bench for 12 minutes against Stetson, hit three of five shots and collected seven points, two rebounds and a blocked shot.

The next night against Jacksonville, Knight played 17 minutes and produced 12 points, five rebounds and two blocked shots. His late play helped spark the Lions, who were down by as much as 13 points in the second half. Knight hit three of four shots from the field and was six-of-eight from the foul line.

“He played very well, he did some electrifying things, a couple dunks, which he’s capable of,” Westhead said. “He also did some hard-nosed things--got rebounds, hit some clutch free throws late in the game when we needed ‘em. He was clearly a difference in the game, a difference we haven’t had.”

Westhead said he hopes Knight, whose inconsistency has limited his playing time, has reached a new plateau. “I’m looking forward to it,” Westhead said. “It would be a needed dimension we’ve missed. We need a big man off the bench. If we can get Knight to play at a consistent level, we’ll be a much better team.”

Two streaks ended Wednesday night when Cal State Dominguez Hills finally won its first men’s basketball game, six games into the season.

Toros Coach Dave Yanai not only had never suffered an 0-5 start before but had to be wondering if he would ever get a break. The Toros lost two games over the weekend in the Cal State Stanislaus Tournament, falling by three points in overtime to Washburn University, then losing to conference foe Cal State Los Angeles by three points. In the Washburn game, the Toros received no free throws in the first half, a first for Yanai. Against Cal State, the Toros tried only three foul shots. After the first five games, the Toros had attempted 65 free throws, half their opponents’ 130. The Toros have been outscored, 80-43, at the foul line.

In beating Azusa Pacific, 77-70, on Wednesday, the Toros finally got more free throws then their opponents, 29-22.

Stats Update: Loyola’s Hank Gathers didn’t need many games this season to become a 2,000-point scorer. The senior forward entered the season with 1,969 career points and broke the 2,000-point barrier in the second game. He went into Thursday’s game at U.S. International with 2,085. He’s also four rebounds short of career No. 900. Sometime in January, Gathers should ring in the new year by joining a handful of players in collegiate history with 2,000 points and 1,000 rebounds. Gathers is 21 rebounds away from moving into third place on the Loyola career list.

High-scoring teammates Jeff Fryer and Bo Kimble are also moving up the scoring ladder. Though he has missed the last two games, Fryer has moved into 10th place on the Lions career list with 1,335 points. Kimble has 1,329 and needs 22 to move into 20th place in Loyola career scoring (340 of his points were as a freshman at USC).

By opening the season 3-1, Lions Coach Westhead is one victory from tying Scotty McDonald for No. 3 on the Loyola coaching list with 83. Next on the list is John Arndt at 91.

Another Lions stats leader is a surprise--sophomore Terrell Lowery. Though he comes in off the bench, Lowery is among the top 10 in five conference categories, more than any other player in the West Coast Conference. The guard is 10th in scoring (14.8 average), first in assists (7.0), fifth in shooting (.525), 10th in three-point percentage (.385) and 10th in free throw percentage (.708).

Loyola, naturally, leads the WCC in scoring at 116.8 per game--and points allowed, 101 per game.

Statistics do not include the USIU game.

Injury update: Fryer, nursing a broken bone in his right (shooting) hand, could be available Saturday if he gets medical clearance. His hand is in a cast and will be re-examined Friday. Junior forward Marcus Slater remains on the sideline with a knee injury, and freshman forward Chris Scott has been cleared to play after recuperating from a broken thumb. Tom Peabody and John O’Connell, both key reserves, are playing with nagging injuries but haven’t missed games, though O’Connell played only four minutes against Jacksonville.

Rough Sailing: The West Coast Conference has had trouble navigating through the early weeks of Division I opposition in men’s basketball. Despite Loyola Marymount’s 3-1 record entering the week, the WCC is 11-20 against Division I teams and losing by an average of 16.8 points. The biggest downturn has been by defending WCC champ St. Mary’s, which led the nation last season with an average victory margin of 19.5 points. The Gaels are 0-3, may have lost one of their two best players, Terry Burns, for the season with a ruptured disk in his back and are losing by an average of 20.4 points.

One big plus is at Santa Clara, which fields the tallest front line in the WCC. The Broncos (2-2) are out-rebounding opponents by 18 per game.

College Notes

Gathers was named WCC Player of the Week. He averaged 35 points and 10.5 rebounds in being named most valuable player of the Gator Bowl Tournament. Gathers’ 38 points against Stetson broke Chuck Person’s tourney record . . . The Dominguez Hills women’s basketball team won the Fresno Pacific Tournament over the weekend, giving the Lady Toros a 5-2 record, their second-best start ever. Toro freshman forward Melissa Punch was the star in overtime in the 91-90 title game win over Sonoma State. She hit three straight jumpers, including a three-pointer in the extra period. Another freshman, Yvonne Vanlandingham, leads the team in scoring at 12.1 per game . . . The Lady Toros have three of the top four rebounders in the California Collegiate Athletic Assn.: Khyra Anderson is first at 10.3, Brigette Frazier is third (8.7) and Vanlandingham is fourth (8.4). Anderson also leads in blocked shots at 2.3 per game . . . The Toros’ Robert Barksdale, who scored 25 point Wednesday, is sixth in CCAA scoring at 18.3 points per game.