Loyola Struggles From the Start in 87-77 Loss : Basketball: San Diego builds a 23-point lead as the Lions lose for the fifth time in six games. Loyola commits 22 turnovers.

Late in the first half, Loyola Marymount Coach John Olive walked to the end of the bench, glared out at the court and yelled at the Lions to “wake up.”

Despite Olive’s plea, Loyola continued to sleepwalk in the second half as San Diego pulled away for a convincing 87-77 West Coast Conference victory Thursday night.

The Toreros led 81-58 with three minutes six seconds to play before Loyola’s second team made the score respectable with a late run.

“I don’t think we woke up until the younger kids went into the game in the last five minutes,” Olive said. “San Diego was more aggressive than us, that’s why they won. There’s no secret to it.”

And there was no mystery surrounding Loyola’s fifth defeat in six games. The Lions (7-12, 2-5 in the WCC) fell out of a tie with Portland and into seventh place in the conference, a half-game ahead of last-place St. Mary’s.

Loyola committed 22 turnovers and allowed San Diego (9-9, 4-3) to take 13 offensive rebounds and score many uncontested baskets. Forward Gylan Dottin led the Toreros with a career-high 25 points on nine-for-13 shooting. Guard Joe Temple added 20 points, including three dunks, and a game-high 11 rebounds.

San Diego extended a seven-point halftime lead to 48-32 by outscoring Loyola, 13-4, in the first three minutes of the second half. The Toreros made three of their seven three-point shots during the stretch, and Loyola never drew closer than 10 the rest of the game.

“I thought we played pretty well on defense for the first 15 minutes of the second half,” San Diego Coach Hank Egan said. “That was the key.”

Guard Rahim Harris and center Brian McCloskey led Loyola with 14 points each. They combined to make 14 of 18 field goals but the rest of the Lions shot 18 of 49.

San Diego led by as many as 10 points in the first half, which ended with the Toreros ahead, 35-28. Loyola’s man-to-man defense in the early going did little to stop the Toreros, whose first eight baskets consisted of seven layups and a dunk. When the Lions switched to a zone, San Diego had success shooting from the outside.

Dottin benefited the most from the Lions’ defense, scoring 16 points in the first half.

Loyola shot 52% in the first half, led by Harris’ 10 points, but the Lions committed 16 turnovers and attempted only 23 field goals in the first 20 minutes.