COLLEGE NOTES : Loyola Should Feast on Cellar-Dweller in Conference Tourney

Entering the final weekend of the West Coast Conference men’s basketball season, Gonzaga has clinched the cellar--meaning the Bulldogs will have to play the champion in the opening round of the conference tournament--but most of the other spots are still up for grabs, at least mathematically.

Loyola Marymount can clinch the title by winning one of its two remaining games this weekend.

Gonzaga, on a 10-game losing streak, had never finished last since joining the league in 1979. The Zags’ one standout has been senior swing man Jim McPhee, who is 58 points short of 2,000 in his career.

St. Mary’s, the defending WCC champ, has fallen to seventh place thanks to a seven-game losing streak during which the Gaels have been outscored by an average of 23.9 points.

With Loyola losing to Pepperdine last week, the young San Diego team, looking for a second-place finish, carries the WCC’s longest winning streak of seven games into Gersten Pavilion tonight. The Toreros are beating opponents by an average of 16.6 points during the streak.

The top four teams in the WCC play in Los Angeles this weekend, with Loyola (11-1) and Pepperdine (8-4) playing host to San Diego (9-3) and Santa Clara (6-6), all jockeying for tournament position. A multitude of possibilities exist, but the playoff match-ups will be known after Saturday’s games.

Portland, tied with Santa Clara for fourth at 6-6, finishes the season at St. Mary’s (3-9) and San Francisco (4-8). A team on the upswing, the Pilots are 9-16 overall, meaning that Coach Larry Steele has already passed the eight victories his teams totaled in his first two seasons.

On Sunday, the WCC office will release official match-ups and starting times for the four opening-round games March 3. The WCC Tournament will be played March 3-5 at Loyola, with the championship final being televised live on ESPN.

In the conference format, the champion plays the No. 8 (last-place) team and gets to choose its starting time; the second-place team plays No. 7, No. 3 plays No. 6, and No. 4 plays No. 5. Teams are reseeded for the semifinals with the highest remaining seed always playing the lowest.

Around the CCAA: Heading into its final weekend of play, the men’s basketball race in the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. also has a number of possibilities, with six teams fighting for the conference’s four post-season tournament spots.

Front-runner Cal State Bakersfield (10-2) and UC Riverside (8-4) have already locked up tournament berths, but no finishes have been determined, from first place to last.

Bakersfield, in the driver’s seat, can claim the title either by winning one of its two remaining games or by Riverside losing one. However, the CCAA’s automatic berth in the NCAA Division II regionals goes to the tournament winner.

The team that clearly needs help is Cal State Dominguez Hills, which fell into sixth place by losing both games last weekend but could leapfrog into fourth if everything goes its way.

The Toros (5-7) need to beat both Cal Poly Pomona tonight and Riverside on Saturday in the Toro gym. Then they need help: Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and Cal State Los Angeles, both 7-5, must lose two, and Cal State Northridge (6-6) needs to beat San Luis Obispo on Friday and lose to Bakersfield on Saturday for the Toros to have a chance to sneak into the fourth playoff spot.

In the women’s race, undefeated Cal Poly Pomona has again clinched the title. In the tournament format, the regular-season champions play host for the first round March 1. The tournament finals for men and women will be held as a double-header March 3 at the men’s site.

Free Falling: Since Loyola hit a mid-season free-throw slump, the team has bounced back, particularly behind the recent performance of Bo Kimble and Jeff Fryer.

In the last eight games Kimble has made 78 of 88 foul shots, a rate of 88.6%. That includes a 17-for-17 night against San Francisco, which set a conference record, and 14-for-14 on Saturday against Pepperdine, as well as a school-record string of 33 straight over three games.

Fryer, who had some difficulty after his broken shooting hand healed, has regained his touch. Over the last eight games he has converted 22 of 24 free throws (91.7%), and since the start of conference play he has made 31 of 35 (88.6%).

After several stops along the way, it appears that Otis Livingston has finally found a home.

The senior point guard at the University of Idaho ranks eighth in the nation in assists with 8.2 per game and has already shattered the Idaho season record, with 205 assists entering the week. In helping lead the Vandals to a 21-4 mark and a probable NCAA Tournament berth, Livingston is closing in on the Big Sky Conference record of 240 set by Nevada-Reno’s Billy Allen in 1982.

Livingston, an All-City player at San Pedro High, gained all-conference honors at El Camino College, then continued on to the University of Kansas, where he had his differences with Coach Larry Brown. Brown dismissed him from the team two years ago, just before the Jayhawks went on to win the NCAA title. Livingston moved on to Idaho, where he sat out his transfer season last year.

Things have gone Livingston’s way this time around, and he has brought some excitement to a team that normally doesn’t run much and concentrates on defense. Livingston set a team record with 16 assists against Montana State two weeks ago, and his ability to push the ball has resulted in Idaho averaging nearly 80 points per game. Livingston isn’t scoring much--4.7 points per game--but is shooting 63%.

“He’s the kind of player you don’t see much in the Big Sky,” said Idaho sports publicist Dave Cook. “You don’t normally see guards with that kind of talent.”

Stat of the Week: In five West Coast Conference home basketball games this season, the Loyola Marymount men’s team is averaging 142.6 points per game and winning by an average margin of 31.4 points.

College Notes:

Cal State Dominguez Hills Coach Dave Yanai has been named to the West coaching staff for this summer’s U.S. Olympic Festival July 6-12 in Minneapolis. Yanai, who is closing in on 200 victories in his 13th season at Dominguez Hills, will assist Head Coach Don Monson of Oregon. The staff will also include Bruce Haroldson of Pacific Lutheran. . . . The Loyola Marymount men’s volleyball team pulled off a notable upset by defeating sixth-ranked San Diego State in five games Monday for its first Western Intercollegiate Volleyball Assn. win this season. The Lions won the first two games, lost the next two but won the fifth decisively, 15-6. Sio Saipaia led both teams with 35 kills and had a 40% attack rate. Setter Rick McLaughlin had 72 assists. . . . Loyola’s Hank Gathers has moved into 15th place on the NCAA basketball career scoring list with 2,631 points. Over the weekend he passed Michael Brooks, who scored 2,628 points at LaSalle, where he played for Paul Westhead. Gathers needs 39 points to pass Wayman Tisdale (2,661) and David Robinson (2,669) . . . Bo Kimble needs nine points to surpass Bill Cartwright’s career scoring total and move into second place in WCC annals behind Gathers. Kimble enters tonight’s game with 2,108 career points.