Game 15 - Loyola Marymount vs. New Mexico State 1990

Early 1990 was really when I remember really beginning to pay attention to college basketball.  UNLV was running teams out of the gym, Duke was a bunch of smart kids who kid play, and the most entertaining basketball was being played well after I went to bed, by Paul Westhead's Loyola Marymount  Gaels.  Running the same uptempo offense run by Westhead's Lakers of a decade earlier, the Gaels scored points with aplomb.  Their first round game in the 1990 tournament in and of itself is not that interesting.  The story of the 1990 Loyola Marymount team is.  The team was led by two former USC commits in Bo Kimble and Hank Gathers.  Kimble was a tenacious scorer in the Gael offense, seemingly always open.  He went on to have a decent NBA career, although it is clear the events that occurred just a few short days before the Tournament.

Hank Gathers didn't score quite as at will as Kimble, but Gathers was thought to be the better pro prospect.  a 6 foot 7 inch power forward, Gathers played the game as a point forward, grabbing a rebound on the defensive end before pushing the ball up the floor and finding an open Kimble.  Gathers was a double-double machine, routinely gobbling up rebound figures in the 15 a game range.  Early in Gathers' Senior season, he collapsed during a conference game.  He was diagnosed with an irregular heartbeat, given medication, and sat out three weeks.  Gathers did not like the way the medication made him feel, and so he began to cut back on his usage,  His return was electric, and it looked as if he and Kimble may power the Gaels into the Tournament's last weekend,  In a national showcase against LSU, led by Shaquille O'Neal, Gathers was a man possessed, scoring 48 points and tossing in 13 rebounds.  The Gaels lost by seven, but the message was clear.  Hank Gathers was going to take Loyola as far  as he humanly could.

The Gaels were rolling as they headed into the WCC semifinal against Portland, and decided favorites to not just outlast the Pilots, but win the final as well.  With 13:34 remaining in the first half, after a dunk, Gathers collapsed again.  This time, he died.  Gathers was 23.  That night the WCC canceled the remainder of their tournament, and named the Gaels conference champions.

Heading into the NCAA tournament, playing 12 days after the death of Gathers, the Gaels tried to focus on basketball.  Kimble shot his first free throw of the game left handed in memory of Gathers.  Loyola won, and this great story would continue.

We have full video of the LSU_LMU classic from the regular season, and highlights of this first round game.

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