Loyola Relishes Easy Victory Over Pepperdine

The way Haywood Eaddy, Rupert McClendon and Silvester Kainga stood on the press table and celebrated Wednesday night, the way the crowd poured onto the Gersten Pavilion floor, one might have thought Loyola Marymount had just won the West Coast Conference tournament if not the NCAA tournament itself.

OK, so it was only a regular-season win, a 90-77 victory over cross-town rival Pepperdine.

But don’t try downplaying it to a Lion team that:

*Is struggling through a 10-11 season and is still only 5-4 in the WCC, putting them far behind conference-leading Gonzaga (8-0).

*Wanted desperately to derail a Pepperdine club that came in just a game back of Gonzaga, powered by a six-game winning streak, but fell to 16-8 overall, 7-2 in conference.

*Was trying to shake off a demoralizing 76-67 loss to San Diego last Saturday in a game in which the Lions blew a 14-point second-half lead.

*And was victorious Wednesday even though the Lions were totally dominated on the boards, 53-38.

So who wouldn’t want to celebrate?

“The guys had only a few days to regroup after the San Diego game,” said Loyola Coach Charles Bradley. “They [the Waves] are a defensive team and we like to push the basketball. We like to play.”

The Waves, who came into the game with the conference’s best defense, having surrendered an average of only 61.3 points per game, gave up a season-high point total.

“We played no defense tonight,” said Pepperdine Coach Lorenzo Romar. “We knew they were an explosive team coming in. We were very concerned about their ability to put the ball in the basket. We came down and uncharacteristically took shots quickly which allowed them to transition.”

The Waves, who had won six of their previous eight games on the Lions’ home court, shot only 39.7% from the floor, led by Jelani Gardner’s 19 points.

Loyola, with six players in double figures, shot 41%. The Lions were led by McClendon and Robert Davis, each of whom had 16.