Loyola Keeps Up the Pace : College basketball: Bo Kimble scores 50 points to lead the Lions’ 157-115 victory over USF.

What letdown?

Anyone who thought Loyola Marymount might be down after losing at Louisiana State on Saturday, flying home late Saturday night and playing the University of San Francisco on Sunday, think again.

The responded with another record-breaking performance while thrashing the Dons, 157-115.

The Lions’ second conference record in four nights--breaking their still-warm mark of 150 scored Thursday against St. Mary’s--raised them to 17-4 for the season and 8-0 in the West Coast Conference. USF, hoping to catch the Lions flat, fell to 7-14 and 3-5.

The latest scoring explosion gave the Lions 448 points in three games in four days (a 149.3 average). In the three games, 830 total points were scored.

The victory was paced by Bo Kimble’s 50 points--his fourth 50-point game this season, 30 points and 13 rebounds from Hank Gathers, 23 points by Jeff Fryer--18 in the second half--and 19 points by Terrell Lowery.

Kimble hit all 17 of his free throws, also a WCC record. The Lions forced 40 turnovers and hit 44 of 56 free throws (both WCC records) as well as 59% of their shots from the floor.

“This was a good test of a team,” Lions Coach Paul Westhead said. “You can have a grueling day and come back and act like you’ve been off for a week. It’s more a tribute of our team wanting to show a hard, tough loss would not have any negative effect. I mentioned (to the team) that I thought it was important to play sharp.”

In fact, Westhead said, after losing in overtime to LSU Saturday, 148-141, he didn’t mind playing back-to-back. “Winners smile, losers say deal,” Westhead said. “Heck, I like playing the next day.”

Guard Shawn Sykes led the Dons with 32 points and forward Joel DeBortoli added 29. Both had 23 at halftime as USF stayed close by hitting 11 of 13 three-pointers before the break.

Kimble scored 11 of Loyola’s first 13 points and the Lions pulled away to a 29-17 lead. But USF went to the three-pointer to cut the lead to two points. Sykes hit most of his seven first-half triples early as the Dons pulled to within 45-43.

After the Lions rebuilt a six-point lead, DeBortoli warmed up, hitting four three-pointers in the latter part of the half, and USF again pulled to within a basket, 54-52.

Loyola answered with a 16-5 run to build a 13-point lead and was ahead, 72-63, at the half.