Loyola Misses Chance in Last Second, 62-61

Loyola Marymount Coach John Olive looked at the clock and saw his team trailing San Diego State by a point with only 3.4 seconds remaining.

He wasn’t worried. The game had gone exactly according to plan: The injury-plagued Lions had played aggressively enough to be in the position to win.

“We don’t have the manpower to score 80-90 points so this game went exactly by design,” Olive said. “We wanted to play a 60-60 game and try to win it with the last basket.”

It didn’t go quite exactly by design. The Aztecs were ahead, 62-61, with 3.4 seconds remaining.

But Olive put his plan to work nonetheless, and it was executed well enough: Will Jones inbounded to Ben Ammerman, who passed to point guard Jim Williamson, who dribbled from midcourt at Gersten Pavilion and got off a jumper from just inside the top of the key.

The ball hit the front of the rim, bounced off the backboard and then off the rim again.

The game was over. The Lions, though they had the chance they wanted, dropped to 2-1 and lost to the first Division I school they have faced this season.

It proved just how important the injuries to starting forwards Mike O’Quinn (broken hand), Kenny Hotopp (sprained ankle) and reserve John Anthony (sore knee) are.

The Lions, despite 18 points and nine rebounds by center Ime Oduok, and 15 points by Williamson (who made only five of 15 shots), were never able to get much going offensively and had to resort to an aggressive if not sloppy style of play to keep the Aztecs from running up the score.

The Lions shot only 36% in the first half and finished shooting 45.5% The other three starters--sophomores Ammerman and Jones and freshman Tim Kennedy--combined to score only 24 points.

Asked if he missed O’Quinn and Hotopp, Williamson chose his words carefully, but said: “They have a lot more experience, and they do make me feel more comfortable out there.”

Trailing, 31-29, at halftime, it appeared that the Lions were finding a comfort zone. They went on a 10-0 run to open a 39-31 lead before the Aztecs (2-0) rallied.