COLLEGE BASKETBALL WEST COAST CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT : Reserve’s Record Shooting Breaks Loyola

If not for Tomas Thompson, Loyola Marymount probably would be playing in today’s semifinals of the West Coast Conference basketball tournament.

Unfortunately for the Lions, Thompson, an unheralded reserve forward for the University of San Francisco, picked Saturday night to have the game of his life.

Thompson set an NCAA record by making all eight of his three-point shots and scored a personal-best 29 points to spark the sixth-seeded Dons to a 100-85 upset of third-seeded Loyola in a first-round game before 1,412 at the University of Portland’s Chiles Center.

It marked the second consecutive season that the Dons eliminated a higher-seeded Loyola team in a tournament opener.

Thompson’s perfect shooting from three-point range broke the NCAA single-game accuracy record of seven for seven held by three players. He finished eight for nine from the field and five for six from the free-throw line.

“I just got in a rhythm early,” Thompson said. “The shots were there and I was taking them. It was like a dream.”

Loyola Coach Jay Hillock said he knew nothing about Thompson before Saturday night.

“I don’t know who he is,” Hillock said. “All I know is that he wears (jersey) No. 10. But he was probably the deciding factor in the game. He kind of broke us a little bit psychologically.”

USF (13-15) will play top-seeded Pepperdine at 7:30 tonight. Loyola finished at 15-13.

Don forward Darryl Johnson scored 18 points and set a WCC tournament record with 20 rebounds, 11 on offense. The previous record was 18, shared by the late Hank Gathers of Loyola and Adams Simmons of Portland. The Dons outrebounded Loyola, 47-28.

“Darryl Johnson really shoved us around,” Hillock said. “They beat us physically.”

After trailing by 13 points at halftime, Loyola outscored the Dons, 17-2, to open the second half and take a 62-60 lead. The game remained close until the Dons went on a 10-0 run to take an 89-76 lead with 2:43 to play.

Senior guard Terrell Lowery led Loyola with 16 points but made only six of 20 shots and was two for 12 from three-point range. Point guard Tony Walker had 14 points on seven-for-eight shooting. He had a game-high 10 assists.

Gonzaga 61, San Diego 48--The Bulldogs opened an 18-4 lead and took advantage of three-for-23 shooting by the Toreros during the first half to get their first victory in the WCC tournament.

Point guard Geoff Goss scored 13 points and forward Marc Armstead added 10 to lead Gonzaga (19-9), which took a 31-17 halftime lead and led by at least five points throughout the second half.

The margin of victory might have been bigger, but center Jeff Brown and guard Jarrod Davis, Gonzaga’s two all-conference players, combined for only 16 points on four-for-13 shooting.

San Diego (14-14) came back to make 12 of 24 field goals during the second half after shooting 13% in the first half.

“We deserved to shoot three for 23 in the first half,” San Diego Coach Hank Egan said. “We didn’t execute. We were out of rhythm. Some of that was due to them . . . a whole lot of that was due to us.”

Santa Clara 59, St. Mary’s 57--Guards Melvin Chinn and LaCoby Phillips each made two one-and-one free throws opportunities in the final 29 seconds to lift the second-seeded Broncos. Phillips’ shots made it 59-54 with 14 seconds to play.

Chinn, who finished with a game-high 19 points, made the last of his five three-point shots with 2:38 to play, giving Santa Clara (14-14) the lead for good, 53-50. The Broncos made 11 of 24 three-pointers.

“I have to give them credit because they hit some tough three-pointers when there wasn’t anything inside,” St. Mary’s Coach Ernie Kent said. “If they were going to beat us, it was going to be from the perimeter.”

St. Mary’s (13-17) got 15 points from forward Brian Brazier and 14 from center Eric Bamberger.