COLLEGES / ALAN DROOZ : Loyola’s Hillock Vows to Stick to His Run and Guns

Reports of the demise of the Loyola Marymount system are exaggerated. It may be stretching things to say the system is alive and well, but there is still a pulse.

The Lions’ problems are more symptomatic than systematic: They continue to get pounded on the boards, they make unforced turnovers down the stretch, they haven’t had a dependable second scorer behind beleaguered Terrell Lowery and they remain beset by injuries.

But despite the Lions’ 0-3 start n West Coast Conference play and a 26-point drop-off in scoring in that span, Hillock will keep running the system--fast-breaking at every attempt and applying full-court pressure for 40 minutes.

“Modifying (the system)? Not yet,” Hillock said Wednesday after the Lions’ 91-79 loss at Pepperdine.

Hillock saw encouraging signs in a second-half comeback that saw the Lions trim a 16-point deficit to three in the closing minutes before a few turnovers and an intentional foul sealed the victory for the Waves. After a 33-31 first half, the Lions managed to force a more Lion-like 58-48 pace after halftime.

“We were really down (after going 0-2 last weekend) but I think the guys feel all right now,” Hillock said. “If we can get a couple guys healthy. . . .”

The Lions played Wednesday without starting forward Chris Knight, who was left home for disciplinary reasons. John O’Connell was the latest member of the team to come down with stomach flu, although he managed to play an effective 13 minutes. Rahim Harris returned after sitting out the weekend with a sprained ankle. Brian McCloskey scored nine points, his best outing since missing most of the past four weeks with a stress fracture in his back.

It appears that freshman Kareem Washington, who has been out since Dec. 2 with a groin injury, will join point guard Tony Walker as a redshirt. Another freshman, guard Greg Evans, has left the team.

Otherwise, everyone who is suiting up is playing, which is a pleasant change this season for Hillock.

Going into Saturday’s Pepperdine rematch in Gersten Pavilion, he has to address these immediate issues:

* The Lions have been outrebounded in three WCC games, 138-84. In losing to Santa Clara last week, 97-83, they got only three offensive rebounds, none in the first half.

“The system is based on taking a lot of shots and getting offensive rebounds,” assistant coach Bruce Woods said. “Three is pretty bad.”

* The nation’s leading scoring machine at 110.2 points a game, the Lions are averaging 84 points in WCC games, which leads the conference but is disappointing by Loyola standards.

Lowery is among the nation’s scoring leaders with a 28.4 average, but has been hounded defensively and held to 21.3 by WCC foes.

Center Richard Petruska has increased his production in conference play, averaging 19 points and eight rebounds, and O’Connell is scoring 12.3 per conference game. Nobody else is scoring more than 6.7 points in WCC play, although forward Christian Scott scored 12 points against Pepperdine, his highest total in several weeks.

“Our shot selection was better (at Pepperdine), and I thought we played a little bit better,” Hillock said. “I’m happy ‘cause we played very hard. Now we need to win a couple games.”

If they do, they’ll do it the Loyola way.

“The faces have changed, but the game is the same,” Wave Coach Tom Asbury said after the game. “Teams like UNLV and Oklahoma can run with them, but we can’t. We’ve got to control the tempo to beat them.”

Home-court advantage usually rules in the West Coast Conference, but things got off to an unusual start in the basketball race last weekend when visitors went 4-4. However, with Pepperdine and Gonzaga winning at home Wednesday, things appeared to be approaching normalcy. Those games gave the home teams an 8-4 edge.

Last season, home teams went 32-24 in WCC games, but the top five teams were 26-9, a 74% success rate.

A poll of California Collegiate Athletic Assn. coaches and sports information directors has left little doubt that Cal Poly Pomona forward Terry Ross is considered the best player in the conference.

The 6-foot-5 senior was named on all 11 ballots and was chosen the top player on nine. The other players drawing single votes for No. 1 were Chapman’s Roger Middleton and Bakersfield’s Russell Jarvis--who was named on no other ballots.

Dominguez Hills scored well, with three players ranking in the top 11: guard Robert Barksdale, ranked fourth and named on all 11 ballots; forward Keith Billingslea, rated ninth (two ballots); and forward Brian Jones, 11th (three ballots).

The top-rated players after Ross were Cal Poly San Luis Obispo’s Stuart Thomas, ranked second and named on all ballots, and Middleton, ranked third and also named on all ballots.

In projecting the CCAA race, 13 voters chose UC Riverside the heavy favorite with 10 first-place votes. Runner-up Cal State Bakersfield drew the other three votes for first. Following, in order, were Dominguez Hills, Chapman, Pomona, Cal Poly SLO and Cal State Los Angeles.

Toro Coach Dave Yanai was so disappointed by his team’s conference-opening 78-62 loss at Bakersfield that he told reporters: “This was one of the poorest games we have played in my years here at this point of the season. And I don’t understand why. I thought we’d come out and play tough tonight.”

Yanai was particularly upset about the Toros’ choice of shots.

“The first 10 to 15 minutes we really had poor shot selection,” he said.

Stat of the Week: After barely playing in the first month of the season, Loyola Marymount freshman Ross Richardson vaulted into the top spot in WCC three-point shooting at 56% (23 of 41) and ranked eighth in the latest NCAA listings.

Richardson made only one of five three-point attempts Wednesday at Pepperdine but is still shooting 52% from long distance.

Notes

Dominguez Hills guard Robert Barksdale leads the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. in free-throw percentage at .829 (34 of 41) and is a close second in assists at 4.7 per game. Other Toros with rankings include Albert Kiilehua, third in field goal percentage at .625 (30 of 48), and Michael Moore, second in three-point accuracy at .528 (19 of 36).

Another CCAA statistical leader is former Loyola Marymount center Marcellus Lee, who is averaging 1.3 blocked shots per game for Cal Poly Pomona. . . . Dionne Vanlandingham of Dominguez Hills continues to lead CCAA women in rebounding, averaging 11.5 per game. . . . Loyola’s Tricia Gibson continues to lead the West Coast Conference in rebounding at 10 per game and grabbed 15 in Wednesday’s loss at Pepperdine.