Loyola Marymount Outlasts Westmont

Loyola Marymount may have had a vision of the past--and future--Wednesday night in a 93-81 victory over Westmont.

Before 924 spectators in Gersten Pavilion, the NAIA-level Warriors dictated a slow pace for much of the game and were within five points of Loyola with 6:11 to play.

Though the talent level wasn’t equal, the game was reminiscent of last March’s 62-60 game against Alabama in the NCAA Regionals--and perhaps a forerunner of the Lions’ scheduled season-ender with Princeton.

Westmont (6-5) did earn some respect from their only NCAA Division I opponent this season.

“I smelled an upset. When it got down around five I was very nervous,” Loyola Coach Jay Hillock said. “The guys have got to play better.”

At least part of the difference was Loyola’s press, which forced 26 turnovers.

“We didn’t want to shoot in the first 20 seconds unless we had a layup,” said Westmont Coach Chet Kammerer. “We felt the only chance we really had was to control the tempo and hopefully get some breakdowns in their defense and get some easy shots.”

The Lions led at halftime, 38-28, but had taken only 29 shots--about half what they might shoot in an up-tempo game.

Terrell Lowery led Loyola (5-8) with 31 points and seven assists. Center Richard Petruska had 21 points.

Noel Matthews had 27 points for Westmont.