COLLEGES : Bo Kimble’s on Fire but Gathers Chosen Player of the Decade : College Basketball: The Loyola All-American, who led the nation in scoring and rebounding as a junior, was judged in several categories by conference officials.

Bo Kimble’s recent scoring surge notwithstanding, Loyola Marymount All-American Hank Gathers is the West Coast Conference Basketball Player of the Decade, heading a squad selected by conference officials.

Gathers, who led the nation in scoring and rebounding as a junior and was the most valuable player of the last two WCC tournaments, scored a conference record 1,015 points last season and is closing in on the career mark of 2,060 set by Loyola predecessor Forrest McKenzie.

The conference used players’ performances in several categories to compile the team of the 1980s, which also includes McKenzie, who played guard and forward as a Lion, guard John Stockton of Gonzaga, guard Dwayne Polee and forward Eric White of Pepperdine, guard Jose Slaughter of Portland, forward Robert Haugen of St. Mary’s, center Scott Thompson of San Diego, guard Quintin Dailey of San Francisco and center Nick Vanos and guard Harold Keeling of Santa Clara.

Based on their accomplishments and awards, those players beat out such worthy contenders as 1985 scoring champion Keith Smith of Loyola, 1988 conference Most Valuable Player Levy Middlebrooks, school career scoring leader Dane Suttle and current star Tom Lewis, all of Pepperdine; four-year starting center Mark McCathrion at USF; Santa Clara’s Jens Gordon, MVP of the first WCC Tournament, and brothers Bryce and Jim McPhee and Doug Spradley of Gonzaga.

The WCC team of the decade? Five-time champion Pepperdine is a runaway in conference play and edges Santa Clara by percentage points for best overall record.

In WCC play, the Waves were 97-39 in the ‘80s, a .713 success rate. Santa Clara, which didn’t win a conference title but won the first WCC tournament in 1987, is a distant second at 78-58 (.574). In overall games it’s considerably closer: Pepperdine leads at 191-113 (.628) while Santa Clara is right behind at 180-111 (.619).

Following, in order, are San Francisco at 126-85 and 54-46; Gonzaga at 162-123 and 70-66; St. Mary’s at 138-137 and 69-67; San Diego at 137-145 and 55-81; Loyola Marymount at 131-161 and 56-80 and Portland at 123-165 and 47-89.

Loyola recorded the best season, 28-4 in 1988, and Loyola and Pepperdine were the only WCC teams to win games in the NCAA Tournament. Pepperdine beat Pittsburgh in 1982 and Loyola defeated Wyoming in 1988.

The 1980s were a mixed bag for the WCC in basketball. Such stars as Dailey and Stockton made an impact in the pros. And a conference that entered the decade with the reputation as “a coaches’ league” (translation: Most of the better players were at UCLA and Oregon State) goes into the ‘90s gaining national attention for setting scoring records.

The conference’s most vaunted team, two-time national champion USF, shut down its program in 1982 in the wake of recruiting and player-related scandals, while Loyola rose from the ashes of five straight losing seasons and several embarrassing coaching predicaments--Ron Jacobs led the Lions to an NCAA Tournament appearance in 1980, then was fired in a grades dispute and sued the school; in 1985 Jim Lynam was hired but weeks later jumped to the Philadephia 76ers without coaching a game at Loyola--to gain national prominence under Paul Westhead, becoming the most prolific scoring team in NCAA history in 1989.

The USF program was reborn in 1985. Nick Vanos wasn’t as lucky. The 7-footer out of Santa Clara was just beginning to make his mark in his second year with the Phoenix Suns when he was killed in a plane crash in 1987.

And in 1983, Pepperdine became the answer to a trivia question when the Waves lost to North Carolina State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, 69-67, in double overtime. N.C. State went on to win the national title. “I made Jim Valvano,” former Waves Coach Jim Harrick continues to say of his Wolfpack counterpart.

Defense and a controlled pace have long been the cornerstones of Dave Yanai’s success coaching the Cal State Dominguez Hills basketball team. Just how well he has held that road was evidenced last week when a Yanai team gave up 100 points for the first time in his 13 seasons.

The Toros appeared to have things going their way at Grand Canyon College in Phoenix, leading 33-21 at halftime. But Grand Canyon exploded for 86 points in the second half to win going away, 107-78.

The most points a Yanai team had surrendered before was 91, also to Grand Canyon in 1987. Grand Canyon’s 86 points in a half was a record by 29 points, and the Antelopes’ 40 field goals were another record for an opponent against a Yanai team. The Antelopes were aided by hot three-point shooting: 13 of 22.

Before the game, the Toros were allowing 68.8 points per game--unusually high for a Yanai team. After the Antelopes’ offensive outburst, the Toros are allowing 72.6 points.

College Notes:

Loyola’s Bo Kimble was chosen West Coast Conference basketball player of the week for the second time in three weeks. All Kimble did was average 50 points for the last three games to raise his season average to a nation-leading 35.9 . . . Cal State Los Angeles guard Darron Jackson, a junior out of El Camino College, scored a game-high 19 points for the Eagles in a victory over Regis College. He hit nine of 10 free throws. Overall he’s second on the team with a 14.4 average ... Pepperdine’s senior triumvirate of Tom Lewis, Dexter Howard and Craig Davis is fighting for position in many school career records. Going into this week’s Far West Classic at Portland, Davis had moved into 11th place in scoring with 1,305 points, with Lewis 12th at 1,303 and Howard 15th with 1,163. Davis and Lewis are shooting for Dane Suttle’s record of 1,702.