Loyola Beaten by Cal Poly

Loyola Marymount Coach John Olive did not travel with the team to its game Tuesday at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, flying instead to Philadelphia to be with his mother, who underwent heart surgery Tuesday morning.

That left third-year assistant Robert Burke in charge for the game, which the Lions lost, 87-70.

The Mustangs, who finished 16-13 last season after going 1-26 in 1994-95, got 14 points apiece from Shanta Cotright, Ross Ketcham and Damien Levesque. Levesque also grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds.

It was the first victory for Cal Poly (2-0) in four meetings against the Lions.

Ben Ammerman led Loyola (1-1) with 21 points. Tim Kennedy scored a career-high 16 points and John Anthony had 12 points and eight rebounds.

Bruce Meyers, Loyola’s assistant athletic director, said he did not know if Olive would return for Saturday’s home game against Cal State Northridge.