Loyola Marymount Has Its Way for Once

Loyola Marymount, which has five losses by 15 or more points, finally blew somebody else out, beating San Diego, 87-64, Friday night.

Haywood Eaddy led Loyola Marymount (6-13 overall, 2-5 in the WCC) with 18 points and five assists.

“I feel like I lost the the last game [to Pepperdine] by throwing away a pass at the end of the game,” Eaddy said. “So I apologized to the team and told them I wouldn’t let it happen again. We all knew we could have swept them. So when we got back to practice, it was like a war.

“We came out with something to prove.”

If only to the 1,100 people at Gersten Pavilion, they did.

Leo Saucedo’s three-point shot gave Loyola Marymount a 30-20 lead with 8:48 to play in the first half, and San Diego never cut the edge to below 10 points after that. Saucedo had 12 points in a reserve role.

San Diego (9-10, 1-6) went four minutes of the first half without scoring. Only one game removed from upsetting Gonzaga--which is in second place in the WCC and beat the Lions by 31 points Jan. 9--the Toreros played perhaps their worst game of the season.

“Where’s our team?” asked San Diego’s Brian Miles, who finished with 13 points. “Tonight was just a zero effort everywhere.”

His team has the dubious distinction of taking Loyola Marymount’s warm seat as last in the conference.

The Lions celebrated their victory for about one minute before Coach Charles Bradley reminded them that a tougher team awaits them tonight in St. Mary’s.

“We don’t have the luxury of some teams to be able to enjoy victories or look ahead,” Bradley said. “But it was nice for a minute. It’s a good confidence boost.”