Lions Falter Down the Stretch, 93-81

Hampered at the start by injuries and later by personal fouls, Loyola Marymount suffered a 93-81 loss to San Diego State on Saturday night before 1,117 at Peterson Gym.

Loyola Marymount, buoyed by senior guard Jim Williamson’s 29 points, played San Diego State (5-2) on even terms for 33 minutes before the game slipped away. The loss was the fourth in the row for the Lions (2-5).

“I was proud of our effort for 35 minutes,” Loyola Marymount Coach John Olive said. “It was a super effort, but they just wore us down. San Diego State was able to rotate more players into the game so they were much fresher than us. We’re very thin on the bench right now.”

Loyola Marymount was without two regulars, Jason Perry and Julian Hammond, both of whom are sidelined indefinitely because of injuries. Their absence left the Lions with eight scholarship players on the floor.

“This is a test of character for us,” Olive said, “and we’re certainly being challenged right now.”

They met that challenge well early Saturday. The biggest margin of the first half, for either side, was San Diego State’s 39-35 halftime lead. The game was tied eight times in the first half and the lead changed eight times. Loyola Marymount shot 60% (to 39.4%), but the Lions were plagued by 16 turnovers against San Diego State’s man-to-man defense.

“Those were my fault,” Williamson said. “I was really careless with the ball at the start and that was not the way you want to start a game.”

Actually, only four of the first half turnovers were his and he had only five for the game. His 29 points, 21 coming off three-point shots, were the second most in his career. Twenty of Williamson’s points came in the second half, when the Lions were trying to stave off San Diego State’s surge.

Three Loyola players--Tim Kennedy, John Anthony and Ben Ammerman--picked up their third fouls in the opening two minutes of the second half and Olive was forced to shuffle players when he had so few to shuffle. Kennedy and Kenny Hotopp eventually fouled out and three other Lions were strapped by four fouls.

“They played the perfect game plan for playing against a team with seven or eight players,” Olive said. “They just kept pushing us. They kept the pressure on us all night long.”