A Slow Week for Lions, Who Need the Rest

Loyola Marymount, gearing up for its most challenging week of the season, will play an exhibition game against Athletes in Action in its only competition this week.

The 7:30 p.m. contest Saturday at Loyola will be useful for Coach Jay Hillock to give playing time to several players returning from injuries--notably center Richard Petruska, who debuted last weekend and showed marked improvement over three games.

That may be more than can be said for the Lions in general. They fell to 2-4 Sunday after getting blasted by UCLA, 149-98. In their only victory in three tries last weekend, the Lions needed 48 points and 10 assists from Terrell Lowery. The junior guard leads the West Coast Conference in scoring (26.3 points per game), assists (9.0) and steals (3.7) and is shooting 94.4% from the foul line, but UCLA shut down Lowery and took the Lions out of their game.

Hillock will try to address that problem by shifting more of the offense inside to the 6-foot-10 Petruska, who got 21 points and nine rebounds in 19 minutes against the Bruins. In limited action since returning from a serious groin pull, Petruska has hit 14 of 23 shots (61%) and pulled down 16 rebounds in 38 minutes. He has shown himself to be a proficient scorer when he gets the ball anywhere near the basket.

“We’ve got to make Petruska the pivotal factor,” Hillock said after the UCLA game. “We have two weeks to really make up some ground.”

Senior co-captain Tom Peabody played Sunday after sitting out two weeks with a sprained ankle, but was still slowed and unable to cut effectively. Freshman Kareem Washington, the team’s No. 4 scorer, sat out two games last week and was clearly hobbled because of a groin pull against UCLA.

Hillock is hopeful that his lineup will be relatively healthy for next week’s trip, when the Lions play at Oklahoma, Louisiana State and Georgia Tech--all top 20 teams. Hillock will give freshman Greg Evans more minutes as a backup point guard against Athletes in Action. “We’ll try to use Athletes in Action to get Evans seasoned and give Terrell some good rest,” Hillock said.

AIA defeated Loyola last year despite 57 points by Bo Kimble.

This year’s AIA team features player-coach Lorenzo Romar and former St. Bernard High standout Ronnie Grandison. Both have played in the NBA. AIA (13-14) lost, 105-91, at Louisville Wednesday night.

The Lions are averaging 114 points a game, but allowing more than 123. “We’ve got to shore up the press a little bit,” Hillock said.

Lowery is one of seven Lions scoring in double figures. He is followed by Craig Holt at 15.8, Brian McCloskey at 14, Washington at 13.3, Chris Knight at 11.3, Petruska at 11 and John O’Connell at 10.5.

O’Connell and Christian Scott are tied for the team rebounding lead at 7.8 per game, another category where the Lions are consistently getting beaten by opponents.

“The next three games will still be a learning process,” Peabody said. “Surprisingly, everybody is pretty optimistic. Everybody’s together, which is important.”

Said Lowery: “This team can only get better. We can’t get any lower than this.”

As part of a Gersten Pavilion doubleheader, the Loyola Marymount women (2-3) start the action Saturday against Texas-El Paso (1-3) at 5 p.m.

The Lions, in the midst of a four-game home stand, are coming off a 87-75 victory over Nevada on Wednesday.

Guards Kristen Bruich and Lynn Flanagan are waging a close duel for the team scoring lead, with Bruich averaging 18.4 points and Flanagan 18.2. They rank sixth and seventh in career scoring in the WCC. Center Tricia Gibson is averaging 13.4 points and 10.8 rebounds and forward Jamie Jesko is averaging 12 points.

Forward Joelle Longobardi moved back into the starting lineup Wednesday and responded with a season-high 17 points. In a six-point loss to nationally ranked Vanderbilt last weekend, Jesko scored a career-high 23.

Stressing an uptempo attack, the Lions are averaging 84 points.