Loyola’s WCC Run Comes to End : College basketball: Lions lose to Portland, which will play Gonzaga in tournament final.

Coach John Olive said before the West Coast Conference tournament that Loyola Marymount, despite what the standings showed, did not think of itself as an eighth-seeded team.

Nor did it play like one.

But after surprising top-seeded Santa Clara on Saturday in the biggest upset in WCC tournament history, the Lions weren’t able to duplicate the result on Sunday, losing in the semifinals to second-seeded Portland, 74-68, before 3,112 at Santa Clara’s Toso Pavilion.

Portland (21-7), enjoying its best season in 37 years at the NCAA Division I level and its first winning season in 13, will play fourth-seeded Gonzaga (20-8) for the title--and an NCAA tournament bid--tonight at 9.

Gonzaga, 9-1 since an 0-6 start in conference play, defeated third-seeded St. Mary’s (18-10) in the nightcap, 69-59.

Loyola (13-15) completed its third consecutive losing season.

But the Lions, who finished 7-14 after winning six of their first seven games to match the best start in school history, acquitted themselves well in the tournament despite not being at full strength.

Point guard Jim Williamson, who fought flu all week and suffered a sprained ankle against Santa Clara, played 38 minutes against Portland but was obviously a step slow. He missed six of seven shots.

“He’s a gutsy little kid, but there’s no question he has not been himself,” Olive said. “He wasn’t quite as explosive, wasn’t quite as assertive. There were opportunities, I thought, for him to maybe explode past somebody, but he didn’t have the legs or the stamina to do it.”

Still, Loyola led early in the second half, 41-38, before Portland guard Ray Ross made two consecutive three-point shots from the right corner to kick-start a 14-3 run that gave the Pilots a 52-44 lead.

“That was a tremendous lift for our team,” Portland Coach Rob Chavez said. “It got us very energized, gave us a cushion.”

It also helped open the inside for 6-foot-10 center Curt Ranta, who made eight of 10 shots and led the Pilots with 22 points.

“He was very difficult for us to control,” Olive said. “We tried to pack it in as much as we could, but when they hit a couple of their deep shots, it forced us to open it up a little bit and he went to work.”

Loyola, which got 21 points from Mike O’Quinn and 14 from Ime Oduok, outshot the Pilots, 54.5% to 42.4%, but had 20 turnovers against Portland’s pressure defense. Portland had only seven turnovers.

“We didn’t play our best game, but that happens,” Olive said. “You still have to find a way to win when you’re not playing your best. We just weren’t sharp. We made a lot of little errors.”