Loyola Clinches Conference Title
Paul Westhead could hardly decide what to celebrate first Friday night. His Loyola Marymount team defeated San Diego, 131-119, to clinch the West Coast Conference title before a crowd of 4,156 in Gersten Pavilion.
The victory made the Lions the top-seeded team in the conference tournament. The Lions will face last-place Gonzaga next Saturday in the first round.
The victory, which raised Loyola’s record to 21-5 overall and 12-1 in the WCC, was also Westhead’s 100th in his fifth season at the school. Loyola tied its NCAA record with its 23rd 100-point game of the season and tied another of its records by having three players score more than 30 points each. Bo Kimble had a game-high 43 points. Hank Gathers had 35 and Jeff Fryer 33.
On top of that, it was Westhead’s 27th wedding anniversary. A dilemma? “Not even close,” Westhead said with a grin. “You know it’s 27 years.”
While Westhead could toss out one-liners, San Diego Coach Hank Egan could only consider what might have been. The Toreros shot 53%, outrebounded the Lions, 54-39, and were within 117-115 with 2:55 to play and a chance to tie.
But with the Toreros moving the ball upcourt, Loyola forward Per Stumer intercepted a pass near the sideline and found Kimble for a three-point play.
After San Diego’s John Jerome scored, the Lions missed a shot but Stumer went up in a crowd and volleyballed the ball to Fryer, who swished his ninth three-point basket. That ended San Diego’s threat.
The Toreros, 14-11 overall, fell to 9-4 in the WCC and go into Pepperdine tonight in a second-place tie with the Waves.
“We gave it a good old try. I thought we might take (a victory) out of here when it was two points,” Egan said. “That was a tough turnover at that time.”
Loyola made 13 of 21 three-point shots. Pat Holbert led six San Diego players in double figures with a career-high 27. Jerome added 23 and a game-high 11 rebounds.
With Fryer scoring the game’s first eight points and Loyola playing an active press, the Lions sped to a 24-12 lead and appeared on the verge of putting the Toreros away early.
But San Diego kept its composure, had a 32-20 rebounding edge in the half and began chipping away at the lead, led by the outside shooting of Holbert. San Diego pulled to within a point on a basket by Holbert, then took a 40-38 lead on a Holbert three-point basket.
Loyola grabbed the lead back 10 seconds later on a three-point shot by Fryer, who had six in the half on the way to 20 points. The Lions hit 10 of 14 three-point attempts in the period.
The Lions took a 57-52 lead into the final minutes of the half, but San Diego scored the next eight points for its biggest lead, 60-57, with two minutes to go. In the final nine seconds of the half, San Diego missed three consecutive free throws, and Loyola took a 64-62 halftime lead on a drive through the lane and a dunk by Kimble to beat the buzzer. Kimble also had 20 points at the break. Holbert had 13 to lead the Toreros.
Holbert opened the second half with a quick basket to tie the score and the teams were tied again, 75-75, but the Toreros could never quite get over the hump, though they stayed close.
The Lions built leads of eight and nine points midway through the second half but San Diego pulled to within 108-107 with 4:30 to play. Kimble immediately answered with a three-point play, but San Diego was within two points two minutes later when Holbert scored his last basket, making it 117-115.
That was when Stumer made his big plays. “Per had a couple smart end-of-game plays,” Westhead said. “We call that one (where he batted the ball) the Swedish tip.”
Stumer, a native of Sweden, said: “I have a problem (rebounding) against the high-jumping guys, so when I can’t grab it I try to tip it. Every once in a while it helps.”
Of his steal, he said Westhead forecast where the San Diego pass would be. “They’d been running that play all game,” Stumer said. “I was waiting back there for it, got a hand on it and saw Bo on the break.”
The 22nd-ranked Lions were coming off last week’s defeat at Pepperdine
“I told the guys the sign of a good team is how you play after a loss,” Westhead said. “We’ll try to finish as strong as possible.”
Egan has more immediate worries.
“The kids have learned to compete,” he said. “We didn’t execute that well, but we competed. It’s important that we go out of here with our heads up and get ready (for Pepperdine).”