NCAA BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT : Loyola Beats Alabama at Own Game : West Regional: Lions win, 62-60, despite making only 33.8% of their shots as Crimson Tide works the clock to slow the pace.

Sweet 16 nearly turned sour for Loyola Marymount, but the Lions played Alabama’s game Friday and still managed to turn the Tide, 62-60.

With their fast break slowed to a walk and the Crimson Tide continually working the 45-second shot clock to below 10, the Lions were held to their lowest scoring total since February of 1987 and made only 33.8% of their shots from the field.

But Terrell Lowery made their last shot with 33 seconds to play, and Alabama then missed two chances. Loyola (26-5) will play Nevada Las Vegas Sunday in the West Regional final. Alabama finished at 26-9.

“Before the game, if you’d have asked me if we could shoot 33% and win, I’d have said it’s plausible,” said Lion Coach Paul Westhead. “If you’d said we’d have 60 points, I’d have said, ‘No way.’

“You have to give credit to (Alabama Coach) Wimp (Sanderson) and his team. They played their game and we just had to go along for the ride. It was a very slow ride.”

Sanderson said his team played his game plan to perfection.

“We played the game in order to win the game,” he said. “I told you we would be a well-prepared team. You may not like the way we played. You can put that . . . in there about slowing down the game. We did what we had to do to win.”

Loyola led, 22-21, at halftime, its lowest scoring half of the season by 15 points and its worst first half by 24. The Lions hadn’t scored fewer than 91 points this season.

Alabama passed up easy shots to run the clock, ignoring several three-on-one advantages, another time pulling up when two Loyola players were on the floor at the other end. On its first possession, Alabama shot with two seconds on the shot clock, on its second possession with four seconds left.

“My talk to our team was our offense was our defense,” Sanderson said.

The Lions took a four-point lead to open the second half, but Alabama began going inside successfully to its big men, Robert Horry and Melvin Cheatum.

The Crimson Tide, shooting 65% in the second half, went on a 16-2 run, taking its biggest lead at 49-41 with 8:05 to play. The Alabama duo led all scorers with 21 points apiece.

That was when Loyola began to assert itself, getting some key offensive rebounds and making three three-point baskets down the stretch.

A three-point basket by Lowery cut the lead to 49-44, and another three-pointer by Bo Kimble a few minutes later brought the Lions to within 52-48. Moments later, a driving layup by reserve guard Tom Peabody cut the lead to two and the Lions turned up their defensive pressure a notch.

“We knew that it was time. When it came to that point we knew we were gonna have to step it up on the press,” Peabody said. “We’re a quality team. We live by the break, but we don’t necessarily have to die by it.”

On Alabama’s next possession Lowery stole the ball, was fouled and made one free throw to cut the lead to a point. A dunk by Horry put Alabama ahead, 56-53, but Peabody made a steal and passed to Lowery for a basket with 3:02 to play. Alabama then turned the ball over on a traveling violation and Kimble, bottled up by the defense, found Peabody for a driving layup. Loyola led, 57-56, with 2:30 left.

Cheatum made a short jumper in the lane for a 58-57 lead, but on a wild Loyola sequence, Jeff Fryer missed a three-pointer, Per Stumer--in traffic--tapped the ball back out and Fryer made a three-point basket for the last of his 13 points and a 60-58 Lion lead. Stumer led all rebounders with 12, eight after halftime.

Said Sanderson: “If we had one area where we broke down, it was defensive rebounding in the second half. That’s the story of the game.”

Westhead thought Fryer’s shot was a turning point. “The three-pointer at the top of the key, to me, iced the game,” he said. “When he made that jump shot I said, ‘We just turned the game around.’ ”

But there was still 1:40 to play. Cheatum made another jump shot in the lane to tie the score, 60-60, at the 1:17 mark. Loyola called a timeout with 42 seconds left and set up a play for Kimble, who finished with 19 points.

The pass went to Kimble, but the ball was knocked loose as he tried to drive. Lowery, standing nearby, picked it up, drove the lane and scored the winning basket. He finished with 16 points, 14 in the second half.

“Terrell is the ultimate opportunist,” Westhead said. “He has the best hands on our team, and it’s not even close, quick-twitch reactions.”

Alabama worked the clock, with four players touching the ball. Horry drove into the lane, spotted Cheatum under the basket and passed to him. Cheatum went up and missed the layup, with Stumer rebounding.

Lowery was fouled and missed the first of a one-and-one opportunity, giving Alabama a last chance with 3.6 seconds left. Cheatum, in-bounding under the Loyola basket, threw a pass downcourt, where Kimble deflected the ball to Horry, who turned and shot a 16-footer that bounced off the rim.

As Horry fell to the floor in tears, the Lions celebrated.

They become the first West Coast Conference team to advance to the regional finals since USF, the defending champion, did it in 1957.

“It gives us a great deal of confidence to know we can play slow and win,” Kimble said.

Westhead wasn’t so sure. He said: “The ultimate tribute goes to Wimp. To be honest, I was (surprised Loyola won). The unknown slid in the back door and we managed.”