Loyola Gets Physical and Beats Up on San Diego

Coach John Olive’s game plan called for Loyola Marymount to get physical against the University of San Diego, a team not known to back down from a good challenge.

The aggressive tactics worked for the Lions, who muscled their way to a 73-68 victory over San Diego in a West Coast Conference game Saturday night at Gersten Pavilion.

“We had to match their physical presence,” Olive said. “I think we did that.”

Loyola Marymount, 4-10 overall and 1-1 in conference, was called for 24 fouls but harassed the Toreros (8-6, 0-2) enough to neutralize their two top scorers, forwards Sean Flannery and Brian Miles.

Miles, San Diego’s leading scorer at 14.1 points a game, had six points while Flannery had only two--11 below his average.

Tim Kennedy and guard Jim Williamson led Loyola with 19 points apiece and Kevin Daniels, a freshman guard, had a career-high 11 points.

Williamson made a three-point basket with 13:17 left for his 1,000th point at Loyola Marymount, the 22nd player in school history to reach that milestone.