It’s an Important Week for WCAC’s Top Teams

It’s make-or-break time for the West Coast Athletic Conference’s three top basketball teams--Loyola Marymount, Pepperdine and the University of San Diego.

Their games against one another this week and next could tighten the race, or break it wide open. Loyola has a 6-0 record in the WCAC and is 14-6 overall, Pepperdine is 5-1 and 17-4, and San Diego is 4-2 and 14-6.

As Pepperdine Coach Jim Harrick put it, “We trail Loyola by one game, so each possession of the ball becomes important.”

San Diego, which last week upset Pepperdine but lost narrowly to Loyola, in San Diego, will play at Loyola tonight and at Pepperdine Saturday night.

St. Mary’s, 2-4 and 9-10 and a loser at home last week to both the Lions and Waves, will visit Pepperdine tonight and Loyola Saturday night. Last weekend, the Gaels were without their scoring leader, guard Paul Robertson, but he is expected to play this weekend.

San Diego commited only one turnover in the first half and got out to a 39-22 lead last week against Pepperdine, the defending WCAC champion. The Waves made a second-half comeback but couldn’t overcome poor first-half shooting--they made only 10 of 27 shots--and lost, 69-64.

Loyola then edged the Toreros two nights later, 72-70, when Keith Smith, the conference’s leading scorer with a 24-point average, sank a 20-foot jump shot with a second left.

If Loyola and Pepperdine each win twice this weekend, they will be playing for first place next Saturday night at Loyola’s Gersten Pavilion, with Loyola trying to protect sole possession of the lead.

Harrick’s Waves are 10-2 against Loyola in his six years at the school. But Loyola, which has finished back in the pack in conference play in recent years, is enjoying a resurgence under first-year Coach Paul Westhead and has won eight straight games.