Today in sports history -- Loyola Marymount

Twenty years ago today, Loyola Marymount and Wyoming played what was at that time the highest-scoring game in NCAA Tournament history, barring overtime. Paul Westhead's young Loyola Marymount team, led by USC transfers and high-school teammates Hank Gathers and Bo Kimble, won that game 119-115. LMU had played literally dozens of high-scoring games that year, due to Westhead's unorthodox run-and-gun style. The defensive philosophy was, hey, if your guy gets past you for an easy basket, don't worry about it, just beat him down the floor to the offensive end. With the players they had, it worked pretty well; but Westhead tried to put in the same system with the Denver Nuggets, and discovered that mediocre talent won't win games with that system (nor, one assumes, with any other). In 1990-91, the Nuggets scored 119 points a game -- and allowed 131.

Anyway, those '88 Loyola Marymount Lions went just as far as the round of 32, losing in the second round to North Carolina by a final score of 123-97. LMU got back to the tourney in '89, but lost in the first round to Arkansas, 120-101. And in 1990, the Lions made the run that got Kimble onto the cover of Sports Illustrated.

During a West Coast Conference tournament game that year, would-be future NBA star Hank Gathers collapsed and died on the court due to a heart condition. The first signs of trouble had appeared in December 1989, when Gathers collapsed during a game and was found to have an abnormal heartbeat that was exacerbated by intense physical activity -- which any college basketball game is, but especially so with the style that Loyola Marymount was playing. LMU doctors felt the beta blockers he was taking were affecting his play, and cut back on his dosage. He was not seeing any doctors that were not in the employ of Loyola Marymount University.

On March 4, 1990, during the WCC tournament, Gathers scored on an alley-oop dunk against Portland, putting heavily favored Loyola Marymount up 25-13. As he tried to go back down the court to the defensive end, he crumpled to the floor, and never got up. He was pronounced dead on arrival at an area hospital.

The conference tournament was canceled, and LMU was pronounced the conference champion based on its regular-season championship. The surviving Lions dedicated any and all NCAA Tournament games they would play to Gathers, and were given an 11 seed. In tribute to Gathers, a lefty, Kimble shot all his free throws left-handed in the tourney, and made most of them. Perhaps inspired by their fallen teammate, they proceeded to make one of the most memorable runs ever through the tournament. They beat New Mexico State 111-92 in the first round before setting a new tournament record in the second round against Michigan, in a 149-115 game. It was the most points ever scored by one team in an NCAA tournament game, as well as the most points ever scored by both teams -- and Michigan tied Wyoming's two-year-old record for most points scored by the losing team in a regulation game. Incredibly, the Lions then beat Alabama just 62-60 in the Sweet Sixteen, before falling 131-101 to eventual national champion UNLV.