Torrid Loyola Cagers Rank Third Among Division I Teams in Scoring at 101

Loyola Marymount University’s rapid scoring pace has the Lions ranked among national leaders in several categories in the first NCAA basketball statistics.

The Lions are averaging 101.8 points, third among Division I teams behind Oklahoma (112) and Nevada-Las Vegas (106). The Lions have scored 100 or more points in four of six games.

Two sophomore transfers from USC--Hank Gathers at Loyola and Tom Lewis at Pepperdine--are averaging 24.7 points, which ties them for 20th among leading scorers. They also lead the West Coast Athletic Conference in scoring.

At the other end of the spectrum, the WCAC defensive specialist appears to be St. Mary’s, which is third in the nation in defense, allowing only 51.5 points per game.

Loyola is first in scoring, well ahead of USF (78.3) and Pepperdine (78.2), but is only third in scoring margin at 9.5, well behind St. Mary’s plus-18. The Lions lead the WCAC in three-point shooting at 47.9%.

Individually, Gathers and Lewis are followed in scoring by Loyola’s Corey Gaines at 21.3 points. Loyola’s Mike Yoest is eighth at 15.5. Gathers is third in rebounding (8 per game) and Yoest sixth, and Yoest is fifth in free-throw percentage at 81.3.

Gaines leads the WCAC in assists (9.2) and steals (3.2), is tops in three-point shooting percentage (10 of 14, .714) and is third in overall shooting (.622).

Loyola’s wild 117-113 overtime loss at Long Beach State had to leave Gathers with mixed feelings. His 39-point game was the highest for a Loyola player since Greg Goorjian scored 42 in 1983. It also ties Gathers for the seventh-best total in school history. The record remains 49, set by Jim McCloskey in 1980.

However, Gathers had the chance to win the game at the end of regulation but missed two free throws with one second left and the score tied at 105.

That continued a confounding string of erratic free-throw shooting for the powerful sophomore, who shot 5 of 6 in the first half, but only 4 of 11 in the second. Gathers can shoot perfect strings of foul shots, then just as suddenly have trouble drawing iron in the same game. Three times this season he has shot air balls from the foul line, astonishing for such a good shooter.

Gathers, who operates primarily in the paint and draws a lot of fouls, is shooting 57% from the line. He’s hitting 58% from the field.

Coach Paul Westhead said there is no ready explanation for Gathers’ satin-and-mortar foul shooting. “There’s no pattern,” he said after the Long Beach game.

As a freshman at USC, Gathers had similar accuracy, shooting about 58% from the foul line and 53% from the floor.

Cal State Dominguez Hills is getting it done from the foul line at record pace through seven games. The Toros, who shot only 63% from the line last season, are hitting 78% this year. The school record, set 10 years ago, is 71.9%. Center Anthony Blackmon has made 28 of 32 attempts, 87.5%, and guard Bryan Dell’Amico has made 15 of 18 (.833).

The Toros are also having success from the three-point line. In fact, Coach Dave Yanai’s outside shooters have taken over the offense. In last week’s victory over San Francisco State, Toros guards scored 67 of the team’s 84 points, hitting 8 for 8 from three-point range. Dell’Amico and Leonard Eaton each went 4 for 4.

Eaton is shooting 14 for 22 (.636) from beyond the three-point circle while Dell’Amico, a poised freshman, has hit 10 of 21 (.476). Eaton’s percentage ranks second in the California Collegiate Athletic Assn.

Injury update: The Bo Show will debut today as Loyola’s Bo Kimble received unexpectedly early medical clearance to begin playing. Kimble, the talented sophomore guard who transferred from USC, has been out all season with a fractured kneecap but began practicing last week and received clearance to play against Southern California College tonight at Loyola.

On the Loyola women’s team, Michele Bettencourt went down with an injury in a game last weekend but is expected to play this weekend, though she may not start. Freshman guard Kristen Bruich has an ankle injury.

The Dominguez Hills women’s team will be without freshman Demetra Johnson for at least another week with a knee injury. Point guard Maria Elzy is on a day-to-day basis with a sprained ankle.

Misleading Statistics Department: Cal State Dominguez Hills’ women’s basketball team leads CCAA squads in rebounding (49.4 per game) and rebounding margin (4.1), usually an indication of success. But the Lady Toros are only 2-5.

Pepperdine and Loyola Marymount, which placed 1-2 in the West Coast Athletic Conference volleyball race, dominates the all-conference team. Waves senior Julie Evans was named player of the year for the second time in three seasons.

Also on the first team are senior Lori Rodman and junior Leslie Wohlford of Loyola, Lee Hoven and Lisa Bevington of Pepperdine and Lisa Petticord of Gonzaga. Hoven, the Pepperdine setter, is a Mira Costa High graduate.

Another South Bay product, Julie Jamile out of Torrance High, was named to the second team as well as to the All-WCAC freshman team. The second team includes Sharon Mellen and Denise Pardoen of San Francisco, Stacey MacDonough of Santa Clara, Michele McDonald of Portland and Barbara Blizzard of Pepperdine, voted the league freshman of the year.

College Notes:

Freshman guard Robert Barksdale has come off the bench to shoot 14 for 25 from the floor and 4 for 4 from the foul line for Cal State Dominguez Hills. The Hawthorne High graduate has averaged 11 points in 19 minutes . . . Lady Toros sophomore point guard Maria Elzy has averaged 11 points and 3 assists in her last four games . . . Dave Kastigar of El Segundo broke his school record in the 100-yard backstroke at Cal State Los Angeles, swimming a 55.34 at the Northridge Invitational last week. The senior’s previous record was 55.55 . . . Corine Sandfry, a guard at Chapman College out of Bishop Montgomery, ranks first in free throws and sixth in field goal percentage in the CCAA . . . Former Narbonne High star Anthony Burgess was suspended for a game at Northern Arizona University for a difference with the coaching staff but has been reinstated for Saturday’s game against Texas Wesleyan. Coaches, however, said Burgess, a senior, would have to win back his starting forward spot . . . Michele Salas of Cal State Dominguez Hills received all-Western Region first-team honors in women’s soccer. The senior from Redondo Beach had 14 goals and 6 assists this season and is the Toros’ career leader in both.