PEPPERDINE FALLS IN `HANK'S HOUSE' LMU 63, PEPPERDINE 46.

Byline: Jill Painter Staff Writer

Gersten Pavilion was rocking Saturday night, much like it did when Loyola Marymount's legendary Lions were running the floor.

There was good reason, as Bo Kimble, the late Hank Gathers and others from the 1989-90 team were honored and inducted into the university's Hall of Fame.

Fans turned out for the occasion, 4,302 of them, the fifth-largest home crowd in LMU history and its first sellout since Feb. 24, 1990. The longtime rivalry, and that it was being televised, added to the ambiance.

Just before tipoff, students chanted, ``This is Hank's house!''

Fifteen years later, it still is.

LMU had won just one West Coast Conference game before Saturday, but the Lions looked nothing like a 1-5 team as it drilled Pepperdine 63-46, a victory that sent the crowd storming the court at the game's end.

When Gather's mom, Lucille Gathers-Cheeseboro, went to midcourt in his honor at halftime, she raised both arms and smiled as fans chanted ``Hank's house'' over and over.

There weren't any smiles on Pepperdine's bench. The Waves didn't play anything like the old Lions, forcing shots and seemingly not running much of an offense. Pepperdine shot 29 percent, committed 18 turnovers and allowed LMU (10-10, 2-5) to shoot 41.8 percent. Pepperdine (12-10) lost its fifth consecutive game and fell to 2-5 in conference.

``This is adversity, man,'' McGowan said. ``I guarantee we'll be back on a winning streak. This looks bad, but we'll get back on track. This will show our character, show what kind of men we are.''

Coach Paul Westphal put his big three - Yakhouba Diawara, McGowan and Alex Acker - on the bench in the second half and opted for reserves instead. The bench pulled Pepperdine within six points at 45-39 with 10 minutes left, courtesy of an 11-4 run. When Westphal put the starters back in, everything again went askew. Diawara, McGowan and Acker combined for 14 turnovers.

``I think LMU outplayed us in every conceivable way,'' Westphal said. ``We probably deserved to shoot worse than 29 percent. They just took the game. I thought they played with more passion. I thought they were better coached. They were more intense. Better defensively, better offensively. I'm surprised we didn't get beat worse than we did.''

Pepperdine was the antithesis of the uptempo Lions team that will be remembered for scoring 122.4 points per game, an NCAA Division I record, and reaching the NCAA Elite Eight.

LMU and Pepperdine desperately needed to win. Westphal continued to tinker with the Waves' lineup; Pepperdine hasn't been getting consistent production from its point guards. Robert Turner, who had played only 30 minutes all season, started at point.

``Coach is trying to find who he can to put the right pieces together, whether it's point guard (or) forward, and see who plays best,'' Acker said. ``We're not playing with enough passion.''

Or enough unselfish play. Pepperdine looks like a bunch of individuals and needs to find something - and quick - to get out of its rut.

``Sometimes it's just one little thing, but we've got big guys with big reputations that aren't playing big games for us, and that's a problem,'' Westphal said.

The Lions got 15 points from Matthew Knight and 12 from Wes Wardrop.

Jill Painter, [phone]

jill.painter(at)dailynews.com