USD Continues Its Winning Way Away From Home, 88-82

The road has been extremely inhospitable to West Coast Athletic Conference teams with the exception of the University of San Diego.

Though every other conference team has a losing record away from home, USD has solidified its lead in the WCAC by running its road record to 9-4. The latest victory, a 88-82 double-overtime win Saturday at Loyola Marymount, gave the Toreros a sweep of its two-game Los Angeles trip and a two-game conference lead.

The Toreros improved to 9-1 in conference and 18-4 overall, while second-place Gonzaga was losing twice over the weekend--on the road--to fall to 6-3. It was the eighth straight victory for USD.

Loyola dropped its fifth straight and fell into last place at 2-6 (10-12 overall) despite playing its most spirited game in weeks.

While USD maintained its mastery, Loyola bounced back from last week’s 82-48 embarrassment at San Diego, to the delight of a season-high crowd of 2,751 at Gersten Pavilion.

“We couldn’t play much better than we did tonight,” Loyola Coach Paul Westhead said. “But these are the type you have to cash in.”

USD Coach Hank Egan felt his team didn’t play particularly well, but the Toreros’ defense and depth finally wore down the Lions.

“We played defense when we needed it, rebounded when we needed it, and the intangibles got the job done,” Egan said.

The Toreros held leads reaching eight points through most of the second half, but Loyola guard Chris Nikchevich scored nine points in four minutes to pull the Lions to within two, 65-63, with 1:59 left.

USD missed two one-and-one opportunities, and Loyola center Vic Lazzaretti tipped in the tying basket with five seconds left to send the game into overtime.

Loyola took its only lead of the second half early in overtime when Dennis Vogel spun in a driving layup, but USD built a 74-70 lead with 22 seconds remaining as Mark Manor and Danny Means each hit two free throws.

Loyola guard Enoch Simmons answered with a three-pointer, then Lazzaretti stole the in-bounds pass and fed Mike Yoest, who was fouled and made one of two free throws to force a second extra period.

Yoest fouled out off the center tap, joining Nikchevich and Mark Armstrong on the bench with five fouls, and the Toreros steadily pulled away after Means broke the tie with a free throw. Means scored seven points in overtime to tie Scott Thompson and Steve Krallman for team scoring honors with 17. Guard Paul Leonard added 15 points and 8 assists.

Thompson, playing before several NBA scouts including Lakers general manager Jerry West, also had 18 rebounds, playing 48 minutes.

Nikchevich led all scorers with 18 points, including 4 three-pointers, and had 8 assists. Yoest added 17 points. Lazzaretti had 13 rebounds.

Westhead said hopefully: “The real plus is if they’re the best and we’re the worst, maybe we’ve turned a corner.”

Both teams came out blazing, matching three-pointers in a rapid start. Loyola hit its first three shots and took an early, 12-7 lead. USD took its first lead, 15-14, on a three-pointer by Manor with 14:40 left.

Chris Nikchevich’s third three-pointer tied the game at 17-17 six minutes into play.

The Toreros quickly broke the tie with three-pointers by Manor and Leonard. Loyola caught up with 9:10 left in the half to tie at 23-23, but Krallman, who played 31 minutes with Nils Madden in foul trouble, then scored seven straight points and USD had a 52-36 lead at halftime.

Krallman and Leonard each scored 11 points in the half, which was matched by Armstrong. The Toreros hit 4 of 6 three-point attempts in the half.