Loyola’s Press Puts the Squeeze on the Toreros

Loyola Marymount clearly isn’t the team it was two years ago when Hank Gathers, Bo Kimble and Co. led the Lions to national prominence.

Only 10 days ago, the Lions were mired in last place in the West Coast Conference.

But for four minutes Friday, the Lions came close enough to their old form to turn a close game into a one-sided track meet, whipping the University of San Diego--the West Coast Conference’s top defensive team--95-80.

The ringleader for Loyola was a holdover from the glory days, Terrell Lowery, who scored 28 points to top the 2,000-point career total and pass Kimble into fifth place in WCC scoring with 2,011.

Lowery and Rahim Harris, who scored 16, helped key a four-minute, 20-4 second-half burst that doomed USD. With the victory, Loyola leapfrogged USD into fourth place in the WCC at 4-3 (11-9 overall). With its third loss in a row, USD fell into fifth at 3-4, 11-9.

USD led 11-2 before a pesky Loyola press helped the Lions take leads of 14-13 and 22-15. However, the Toreros righted themselves and regained the lead, 25-24, as Wayman Strickland scored nine of his 11 points in the half. At halftime, they led, 39-37.

Five minutes into the second half, USD still held a 51-49 lead. Then came the blitz: A 12-4 Loyola run started by a Harris free throw and ended by a Harris jumper, with a flurry of turnovers and blocked shots in between. A timeout by USD didn’t help: Harris and Lowery came out and scored the game’s next eight points, and it was 71-55.

The Toreros had a chance to cut the lead below 10, but when Loyola drew a technical foul, Reed Watson missed both free throws, and Loyola pulled away again.

“They had that little stretch in there, we got some easy shots and didn’t connect, they got a couple blocks, they got (the lead) to 10 and we never came back,” USD Coach Hank Egan said.

“If I could put my finger on anything, we just shot the ball bad. We had open shots, we just couldn’t get ‘em in the basket.”

The Toreros shot 48.5% each half, but the Lions hit 62.2% in the second half. Lowery, despite a constant defensive shadow, hit 11 of 19 shots. Harris made seven of 13 shots and grabbed eight rebounds. Lowery’s backcourt mate, point guard Tony Walker, had a career-high 15 assists.

Gylan Dottin led the Toreros with 17 points and a career-high 13 rebounds. Kelvin Woods added 16 points and Michael Brown 12.

With at least eight games to play, Lowery trails Jim McPhee of Gonzaga (2,015), Forrest McKenzie of Loyola (2,060), Bill Cartwright of San Francisco (2,116) and Gathers (2,490) in WCC scoring. When basketball season is over, Lowery ties on the spikes and plays professional baseball in the Texas Rangers system.

“He’s won a lot of games for this school,” Loyola Coach Jay Hillock said. “He plays two positions for us and he plays two sports for the school. I’d say we got a lot out of that scholarship.”

Lowery, who already holds the school record for assists, was recruited as a point guard. He still frequently sees Kimble, who plays for the Clippers.

“I don’t think him or me thought I’d be passing him on the scoring list,” Lowery said with a grin. “San Diego played me really tough, they made it hard for me to score. They’re really physical and they did a lot of little things to make me work. (The scoring milestone) came harder than I thought it would.”