Loyola Has Two Close Shaves : Collge Basketball: The first was guard Terrell Lowery’s new haircut, the second was the Lions slim win over Oregon State.

It didn’t work for Samson. It worked for Terrell Lowery.

The Loyola Marymount sophomore guard sported the Yul Brynner look Tuesday when the Lions visited Oregon State, and he had a major hand in events as Loyola upset the Beavers in a close shave, 117-113.

Lowery hadn’t planned on going bald, but he didn’t care for the trim teammate and team barber Marcellus Lee was giving him that afternoon, so he had Lee take all of it off.

That evening, Lowery hit seven of nine shots, scored 18 points and hit two free throws with 19 seconds left to clinch the victory. He had missed a free throw minutes earlier, but down the stretch he had a driving layup, made a key assist to Bo Kimble (to account for the last of Kimble’s school-record 53 points) and added the clutch free throws.

“I knew he’d come back and make (the free throws),” Loyola Coach Paul Westhead said. “He’s a confident kid.”

Lowery, who was upset with himself for missing the free throw with 3:11 left, said he had no doubts about the last ones. His thought when he went to the line? “It’s down.

“I was a little disappointed on my (missed) free throw before. I didn’t set myself. The second time I had a little smile on my face. I knew I was gonna redeem myself.”

Now he can work on redeeming his hair. “Credit my haircut to Marcellus. He was supposed to cut it in a designer way, but he didn’t, so I said cut it all. But it worked.”

Lowery, who plays off the bench as both point and shooting guard, raised his season average to 16.3 but is rarely noticed in the nightly scoring records recorded by Kimble and Hank Gathers.

Also lost in Kimble’s third straight 50-point barrage was Jeff Fryer’s return to form. The senior guard, coming back from a broken hand, has been wearing a padded brace that has impeded his shooting. But Fryer, held to seven points in the first half Tuesday, got hot after intermission and canned five straight three-pointers to finish with 22 points.

“Fryer was a pleasant plus,” Westhead said. “When he started shooting, he didn’t even see the basket. He just turned and fired them. He’s like (Kirk) Gibson at the plate. He keeps swinging.”

Fryer said the hand bothered him in the first half but he began to get more comfortable later. “The second half I knew I had to shoot a little more. I just got in my groove. It felt good. Once I got a feel for it I knew it was gonna go in.”

Kimble, who attempted only two three-pointers and did most of his work inside, said Fryer’s sudden long-range onslaught changed the game. “I think that stunned (Oregon State),” he said.

With Gathers out of the lineup again Saturday against Oklahoma at Loyola at 9 p.m., the Lions will need more big games from Fryer and Lowery--and, obviously, Kimble--to pull off another upset.

Fryer said he will not have to wear the protective brace Saturday. “That will make life a lot easier,” he noted.