COLLEGES / ALLEN DROOZ : Loyola Scoring Machine Excites Foes and Fans on Eastern Trip : College Basketball: Xavier coach calls the Lions the best Loyola team Coach Paul Westhead has ever had.

What is one to make of the Loyola Marymount basketball program? Has Paul Westhead created a monster?

These no longer are the unknown little Lions who sneak into town and escape with an upset.

The Lions started their Eastern road trip ranked 25th in the Associated Press and USA Today polls.

Xavier’s last-second 115-113 victory in Cincinnati had an atmosphere more fitting a game in March or a matchup with a traditional bitter rival. The Musketeers’ game-winning shot precipitated a mass of Xavier students rushing on the court to mob the victors.

And only moments after burying the Lions, the Xavier folks couldn’t wait to praise them.

“We doubted ourselves coming into the game because of the hoopla following Loyola,” said Xavier Coach Pete Gillen--a man whose team has lost only four home games in four-plus seasons.

“This is the best team Paul has had (at Loyola). That’s certainly a Top 20 team. If there are 20 better teams in the country on a neutral court, I want to see them.”

Even in defeat, Loyola made converts in Ohio. One Xavier fan, while filing out, shook his head admiringly and noted: “Give (Loyola) a 6-foot-9, 240-pound center and they’d win the national title.”

The security guard outside Loyola’s locker room pointed to the scoreboard and said: “It doesn’t get any better than that. That was better than the pros.”

People who don’t regularly see the Lions still find it hard to believe nearly all of their games are like that.

And the Lions now expect to win those games. Especially if Hank Gathers regains his peak form after missing two weeks and Bo Kimble continues to score nearly 40 points a game and shoot 60%--which he has done for close to a month.

Gillen said: “(Kimble) is a nightmare. He looks you in the face and throws in a three. Gathers and Kimble are men. They’re killers.”

One of the most unusual statistics in Xavier’s victory over Loyola Tuesday was that the Lions were out-assisted, 25-15, partly because Xavier made six more field goals. It’s rare when an opponent tops the Lions in both, and the assist advantage wasn’t lost on Xavier.

“The big key to controlling (Loyola) is to control their point guard,” Gillen said. Lions starting point guard Tony Walker fouled out with only four points and five assists--he averages eight--while backup Terrell Lowery had seven assists but only 10 points, six below his norm.

“Even though Gathers and Kimble are their marquee players, I’ve always felt the key to beating them is to slow down their point guard,” Gillen said. “Walker and Lowery are fast, and if you let them push it downcourt and get the ball to Gathers and Kimble and (Jeff) Fryer for open shots they’ll kill you. (Xavier’s Jamie) Gladden did a pretty good job controlling their point guard. They’re a very difficult team to play.”

Tuesday’s game was played in an appropriate facility--venerable Cincinnati Gardens, the old stomping ground of Oscar Robertson and other NBA stars. Tuesday’s matchup could have been mistaken for a convention of National Basketball Assn. scouts.

An entire row of pro scouts was on hand to view Loyola seniors Gathers, Kimble and Fryer and Xavier big men Tyrone Hill and Derek Strong. Representatives of at least 16 teams were present, ranging from old NBA hands like Detroit’s Dick McCloskey and New York’s Dick McGuire to former players Mel Daniels and Ronnie Lester of the Lakers.

Among the most impressive performances was Kimble’s 38 points with 7-for-7 accuracy from three-point range. The Pistons’ McCloskey was ready to draft him on the spot.

“I don’t let the (scouts) distract me,” Kimble claimed. “Hopefully I impress ‘em (but) I’m not gonna alter my game to impress them. My main concern is winning games. It’s more important to win than to score. If we keep winning they have to notice us.”

There figure to be more scouts watching Saturday when the Lions play LaSalle here (5 p.m. PST). The unbeaten Explorers have one of the nation’s top forwards in Lionel (L-Train) Simmons, and Loyola’s Philadelphia roots make this a special game.

“This is the most excited I’ve been--except for Vegas--for an opponent,” said Kimble, a Philly native. “There’s a lot of excitement for the (LaSalle) guys--they know they could have their career highs against Loyola Marymount. This is for joking rights and bragging rights.”

Gathers, also a Philadelphia native, said: “It’ll be more of a fun situation than a won-loss deal. But it’ll be pretty good competition out there. Playing against the Train. We go at it.”

He added: “I usually do well. Real well.”

Triple Play: It used to be a big deal for a college basketball team to score 100 points, but Loyola Marymount in Westhead’s fast-break-at-all-costs program has made it commonplace.

In 131 games under Westhead (of which the Lions have won 84), Loyola has been in triple figures 63 times. The pace picked up considerably two seasons ago when Westhead instituted the full-court press for the entire 40 minutes. Since the start of the 1987-88 season, the Lions have topped 100 points 54 times in 73 games. They share the NCAA season record of 23 games in triple figures with the 1975-76 Nevada Las Vegas game.

This season the Lions are 10 for 10 in reaching triple figures, with a low of 104 and a high of 152.

Extreme Challenge: Xavier saw both ends of the basketball spectrum within a week. In winning last week’s Met Life Classic in San Francisco, the Musketeers played defense-minded Princeton, which tries to keep the score in the 40s. A week later it faced Loyola, a team that prefers the 140s.

“It’s like choosing your form of torture,” Xavier’s Gillen noted. “They’re both horrible.”

College Notes: Loyola senior Kimble was named West Coast Conference basketball Player of the Week for the third time in four weeks and was also announced as the WCC Player of the Month for December. Kimble had consecutive games of 51 and 53 points--both school records and the highest WCC totals in a decade--while averaging more than 40 points in the month . . . The Loyola women’s team won a rare blowout Tuesday, whipping visiting Penn, 76-55. Ten Lions scored, with four in double figures, led by Lynn Flanagan and Joelle Longobardi at 14 apiece. The Lions shot 49% and made 10 more field goals than the visitors . . . Former Loyola star Forrest McKenzie was in town last week for a Loyola game. The lions’ career scoring leader is playing in Portugal and averaging 37 points. He said he will try one more time to catch on in the National Basketball Assn . . . Another Loyola star, Corey Gaines, was signed by the Philadelphia 76ers to a conditional 10-day contract this week.