Durable Star Gathers May Miss First Lions Game in 3 Seasons

Loyola Marymount basketball star Hank Gathers apparently will miss his first game in three seasons in a Lions uniform Saturday when Athletes in Action plays an exhibition in Gersten Pavilion.

Gathers continues to undergo medical tests to determine why he passed out during last Saturday’s game against UC Santa Barbara. So far, test results have been normal and doctors were still looking for an answer, administering more tests Thursday.

But the All-American senior said he feels good and expects to return to action Tuesday against Oregon State at Corvallis.

Gathers said Thursday: “I’m feeling great, back to normal. I feel like the strongest man alive.” He said he is antsy to return to action but is heeding doctors’ advice.

“I’m pretty sure they’re gonna hold me out Saturday as a precautionary measure,” he said. “I shot some baskets the day they let me out (of the hospital, Monday). I’m kinda hardheaded. (But) I’ve never been hospitalized a day in my life before. It was pretty scary for me. So I’ll just wait till the doctor says it’s OK.”

Gathers said he has undergone “almost every test you can possibly take” and that the fainting spell may have been a fluke occurrence or the result of being too caught up in the excitement of the game. “We hope that’s it, but they want to do a few more tests. They want to make sure. Hopefully today (Thursday) will be the last day (for tests).”

Since transferring from USC, Gathers has played in 69 straight Loyola games, starting 68. He played in all 28 USC games as a freshman, so he has a string intact of 96 games. Athletes in Action is not considered a regular season game and does not count against his string.

While Gathers sits, senior guard Jeff Fryer will test his injured shooting hand Saturday. Fryer averaged 24.5 points in the Lions’ first two games but broke a bone in his right hand and has missed the last four. He suited up last Saturday but wore a large pad on the hand and didn’t play.

He has kept the hand padded this week in practice but said it is feeling “better and better” and added that he’ll play this week. “I’m not gonna miss another game this year,” he said.

Fryer, who has a reputation for playing despite injuries, missed nine games at the end of his freshman season with an ankle stress fracture but had played 65 straight games since despite a knee injury last season and various bumps and bruises before the hand injury sidelined him.

Fryer’s return to the lineup shifts the other noted scoring threat, Bo Kimble, back to forward. Against Athletes in Action, a touring team of former college players that includes one-time UCLA guard Rod Foster, Loyola Coach Paul Westhead will probably start Per Stumer at center and keep Tom Peabody at forward--basically a four-guard alignment--but he could experiment extensively with sophomores Chris Knight in the pivot and John O’Connell at forward. The 6-9 Knight has been impressive in recent games and the workmanlike 6-7 O’Connell has been the first front-court man off the bench.

Saturday’s tip-off is at 7:30 p.m.